“You’d Be Very Brave To Write Off Virat At Any Stage”: Australia T20I Captain Aaron Finch

Aaron Finch-led Australia will begin their T20 World Cup preparation on Tuesday as the side takes on India in the first T20I of the three-match series at PCA Stadium in Mohali. Off late, Finch’s form has been in question and the right-handed batter recently decide to retire from ODIs. In 9 T20Is that he has played in 2022, Finch has registered 247 runs and he would now hope to provide a good start to Australia at the top.

Ahead of the three-match series against India, Finch addressed a virtual press conference where he spoke about his own form, Virat Kohli scoring 71 international tons, the role of Steve Smith and the side’s preparations leading up to the World Cup.

Virat Kohli had recently scored his first international ton after almost three years and that was his first T20I ton as well.

“You’d be a very very brave man to write off Virat at any stage. He has shown for 15 years now, that he is one of the greatest players of all time. Particularly in T20 cricket, he is someone who has developed his game and grown his game over for such a long period. You are always trying to prepare to the best of your ability when you are coming up against Virat,” said Finch during a press conference.

“He is super, 71 international hundreds, that is just ridiculous, isn’t it,” he added.

While replying to a NDTV question about his own form, Finch said: “I think over a long period of time, you get pretty comfortable with criticism and stuff like that. I feel in T20 cricket, my form has been really good over a period of time now. I think if you separate the ODI form with T20I form, then it is completely different. They are different formats of the game, we are just really excited to be here to play these three games.”

While replying to another NDTV question on how important Steve Smith would be heading into the World Cup, Finch said: “Yeah, he is free to play however he feels like, most likely he will bat at No.3 in this series with Mitchell Marsh being out. We know the quality Steve has got, he is one of the best players who has ever played the game over all formats.”

“We know the skill he has got and the game sense and the tactical mouse he has got, we are very confident that regardless of what role he has to play within the structure of the squad, he can do that,” he added.

Big-hitting batter Tim David has also earned a call-up into the squad for the series against India. However, Finch remained tight-lipped on whether the batter would make his debut for Australia on Tuesday.

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“We haven’t finalised the XI yet, we are going to wait till we see the wicket today at the ground. But Tim has been super impressive in T20 cricket over a long period of time now. He is someone who we know has got the power, he has shown that all over the world where he has played. The fact that he has come into the squad with such a great attitude, he has been outstanding. He is a very good all-round package with his ability to bowl few overs. We are excited on what he brings to the squad,” said Finch.

Australia squad: Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Finch (c), Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Daniel Sams, Steve Smith, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.