Mohali: Australia skipper Aaron Finch said Monday it will take a very brave man to write Virat Kohli off. This is because what the former India captain has achieved in the last 15 years is just ‘ridiculous’. Kohli overcame a prolonged lean patch at the Asia Cup earlier this month and also scored his 71st international century. The hundred was his first since November 2019.
“One has to be a very brave man to write Virat Kohli off. At any stage, he has shown for 15 years now that he is one of the greatest players of all time,” Finch said on the eve of the T20I series-opener against India.
“Particularly in T20 cricket, he’s someone who has developed and grown his game over such a long period that you always plan and prepare the best when you’re coming up against him. He is super and has 71 international centuries. That’s just ridiculous,” Aaron Finch said in a virtual media interaction.
Finch will be in focus during the series after he announced his retirement from ODIs following his struggles with the bat. He will be expected to be at his best ahead of the T20 World Cup at home.
“Over a long period of time, you get pretty comfortable with criticism but in T20 cricket, I feel my form has been really good for quite a while now. I think if you separate the ODI form and the T20 form, then they’re totally different, they’re two different formats of the game,” Finch pointed out.
Australia will go about their plans here with one eye on the World Cup at home where the conditions will be very different. The Finch-led side go into the ICC event as defending champions.
T20 globetrotter Tim David, who has played international cricket for Singapore, is set to make his Australia debut. He is being seen as the ‘X’ factor in the Australia squad.
“Every decision that we make, I think, has one eye towards the World Cup and seeing the wicket Sunday, it looked like there was quite a bit of grass on it,” Finch said. “And we know in Mohali, the ball can swing around and it can carry through quite a bit. I think we will be mindful of not being too narrow-minded in terms of our focus,” Finch informed.
“What we’ve tried to do over the last sort of six-eight-ten months is make sure that everything that we’re doing in T20 space ties back into the World Cup and, for us, it’s about making sure that once we get there we’ve had plenty of different combinations of teams that we can play,” the Australian skipper added.
Australia have rested a lot of senior players, including David Warner, Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Marsh for the India series. Finch confirmed that Steve Smith will bat at No.3 Tuesday.
“Most likely he (Smith) will bat at No. 3 in this series with Mitch Marsh being out. We know the quality that Steve’s got. He’s one of the best players to have played the game over all formats. So we know the skill that he’s got and the game sense and the tactical nous that he’s got, Finch said.
The captain also spoke highly of all-rounder Cameron Green who is nicely developing as an all format player. “I think his ability to bat at five, six, seven in the one-day team has been really impressive. He’s just such a great kid, someone who continues to impress with everything that he does,” Finch signed off.
