Australian Finch wants to continue his “exciting” T20 journey


NEW DELHI: Australia’s Aaron Finch finds Twenty20 cricket “exciting” and has no immediate plans to leave the format, the 35-year-old said ahead of his three-game streak against India on Monday.

Australia’s white-ball captain Finch ended one-day cricket following the home series against New Zealand earlier this month after a prolonged drought in that format.

Finch led Australia to their maiden Twenty20 World Cup title last year and will lead his title defense on home soil next month.

“I’m not setting an end date for anything T20-related yet,” the opener said at a press conference ahead of Tuesday’s opener against India in Mohali.

“It’s still exciting. I love touring with the Australian team.

“In T20 cricket, I feel like my form has been really good for a while. If you separate the ODI form and the T20 form, they are completely different.”

Power hitter Tim David, who has 14 Twenty20 caps for Singapore, will make his Australian debut in a series that pits the world champions against the top-ranked Twenty20 team.

Finch had no doubt that the 26-year-old, a familiar face in Twenty20 leagues, was ready for elite-level cricket.

“Being a foreign player (in franchise cricket) sometimes has its challenges because the expectations are high,” said Finch.

“The fact that Tim has already experienced that around the world prepares you as much as possible for international cricket.”

Test captain Pat Cummins has returned after a 10-week hiatus to bolster Australia’s bowling division, which would prove itself against India’s star-studded batting team, including Virat Kohli.

Kohli bounced back from his pothole earlier this month at the Asian Cup, hitting his first international century since November 2019.

Finch said it would be foolish to write off the Indian batsman.

“You would be a very, very brave man if you wrote Virat off anytime,” said Finch.

“He has shown for 15 years that he is one of the greatest players of all time.

“He is amazing. He has 71 international hundreds. That’s just ridiculous, isn’t it?”