Cricket World Cup 2019: Smith, Warner give Australia edge over India, says Finch

Australian Captain Aaron Finch on Saturday heaped praises on batsmen Steve Smith and David Warner and said that their return will help Australia in the ongoing Cricket World Cup 2019. Finch is confident that Warner and Smith will perform well when the Kangaroos will clash with India at The Oval on Sunday. 

"Steve is the best batter in the world in my opinion over all three forms of the game. I think that when you have David who's so destructive at the top of the order, his record shows how destructive he is. To have them come back, it's great for the side and our batting line-up and for experience in World Cups and a great help for me as a leader, as well, in terms of tactics and stuff out on the field," Finch told cricket.com.au.

"But I think we've always believed that we've got a side that can win the World Cup. Even when we didn't (have Smith and Warner) and we started this run of wins, from the third game in India, we still believed that we had the side then that could do it. We feel as though this has just boosted that," added the Australian skipper.

It is to be noted that Smith was the top-ranked Test batter when he was banned for 12-month last year for ball tampering. The right-handed batsman scored 73 runs against West Indies at Trent Bridge in Australia's second World Cup match.

"That was a really good lesson to all our batters that the best player in the world stuck to his game plan for a long time and was successful," said Finch, adding, "(Smith) probably swallowed his pride a little bit in terms of having to put a shot away that you'd look to score heavily off in a one-day game."

Neither Australia nor India announced the names of their playing XI on Saturday. Meanwhile, former Australian captain Ricky Ponting has suggested that India should play an extra fast bowler against Australia.