Australia hopeful on Finch return

Cricket Australia are hopeful T20 captain Aaron Finch will be available for the World T20, but say it's too early to declare him fully fit for the tournament in India next month.

Finch injured his left hamstring during Friday night's loss to India at the MCG, ruling him out of the final match of the KFC T20 INTL series and the one-day leg of the Qantas Tour of New Zealand.

While the injury doesn't require surgery, CA's medical staff are yet to give Finch clearance for the World T20, which starts on March 8.

"Aaron had scans on his injured left hamstring that confirmed a moderate grade hamstring injury," said CA's Alex Kountouris.

"This is not a recurrence of the previous hamstring injury that required surgery in April 2015.

"Although this current injury doesn’t require surgery there is a period of rehabilitation required before he can resume playing.

"We are aiming to have Aaron fit for the ICC World T20 in India but will have better idea about his fitness for that tournament in the coming weeks once we see how he responds to treatment and a rehabilitation program."

On Sunday night, Finch tweeted his belief that he would be fit for the month-long tournament, which sees Australia grouped alongside India, Pakistan, New Zealand and a qualifier.

During the television coverage of game three in Sydney, Wide World of Sports commentator Mark Taylor speculated that Finch would miss the tournament and offered that Australia needed to find an alternative to open the batting.

But Finch was quick to dismiss that theory, turning to Twitter to seemingly confirm he'd be fit for the tournament.

And if we needed any further clarification, this came just a few minutes later:

Australia's 15-man squad for the World T20 will be announced by February 11 and Cricket Australia confirmed on Saturday that the captain for the tournament would be announced when the squad was revealed.

The good news for Finch is that his injury is not a recurrence of the one he suffered during the Indian Premier League last year, which required surgery and an extended break from the game.

Finch is one of several opening batsman at Australia's disposal for the sixth World T20, with the identity of the top order for the tournament sure to create headaches for Australia's selection panel.

Shane Watson put his hand up with a century at the top of the order at the SCG on Sunday night, while the likes of David Warner, Usman Khawaja and Shaun Marsh also have strong claims on an opening spot.