One of the favorites to win the tournament, Australia, suffered a heartbreaking exit from the 2019 World Cup after a comprehensive 8-wicket loss to eventual winners of the tournament, England.
Captain Aaron Finch recently affirmed that the Aussies peaked a little early in the tournament, finishing the group stage in second place, only behind India with 14 points.
The Australians looked at their best with seven wins and a couple of narrow losses in the group stage.
“Potentially we peaked a little bit early in the 50-over World Cup. It was such a long build-up, with a lot of warm-up games and the training camp beforehand, so maybe we were just on the down and just flagging towards the end of the tournament,” Finch told reporters at Melbourne, according to cricket.com.au.
Coming into the tournament, Australia defeated India at their soil by losing the first two games of the 5-match ODI series.
The Kangaroos shocked the Men in Blue as they became the first team to defeat India in a series at their backyard, since 2015. India lost the series 3-2 against visitors, South Africa, then.
“We played really good cricket at the start and not our best towards the end,” the explosive opener added.
Even table-toppers India, who were certain to make it to the finals, received a major blow to their expectations of clinching the title after facing defeat at the hands of the Kiwis.
“So I think that’s something in a World Cup, you have to peak at the right time regardless of whether that’s 100 percent or 90 percent, you have to be tracking in the right direction at the end of the tournament. That’s something that we’ll work on no doubt,” continued the 33-year old Victorian.
However, even after seven months post-defeat, Finch stated that he finds it difficult to move on from the sorrow. “It hurts every day. I know you move on after a while – but I haven’t yet,” claimed the Australian limited-overs captain.
