Aaron Finch warns that he will not be short on aggression in his first Twenty20 International match as captain.
Finch will be leading Ausraltia against Pakistan at the Dubai International Stadium on Sunday. The T20 game will kick off Australia’s UAE tour, which also includes three one-dayers and two Tests against Pakistan.
“As a captain I will be quite aggressive and we have to be willing to take risks in this format of the game,” he said yesterday. “Sometimes they come off you look great and sometime when it doesn’t you look like a fool but I am prepared to cop all that.
“I have played over 110 T20 games in different leagues and different places around the world and that experience can come through. It is enough experience to identify parts of the game and really make an impact somehow as a captain.”
Finch, who holds the record for the highest score in a T20 International – 156 off 63 balls v England in August last year – cannot wait to lead the team out on October 5.
“It is exciting and I’m a bit nervous the closer we get to the game,” he said.
“We have our first hit out tomorrow at the Dubai Sports City. We have put some plans in place and we will be trying and identify specific roles for some individuals.”
Finch has a few worries regarding personnel as three players – all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, spinner Cameron Boyce and fast bowler Pat Cummins – of the 14-member squad are involved in the Champions League Twenty20 in India.
Boyce is a member of the Hobart Hurricanes team that will be playing the first CLT20 semi-final against Cummins’ Kolkata Knight Riders tomorrow. Maxwell’s team Kings XI Punjab is also in the semis, locking horns with Chennai Super Kings later that night.
With the CLT20 final scheduled on Saturday at Bangalore, Australia may end up being without two players for the Dubai game.
Finch, however, is unperturbed and is banking on one-day players Phil Hughes and Nathan Lyon to cover up for the absentees.
“Someone else will step in their shoes,” he said. “We have to embrace the Champions League, it is such a big competition, a world competition and the guys have to be given that opportunity to perform there on that stage."
Meanwhile, all-rounder James Faulkner is banking on his Indian Premier League experience in the UAE to get into the groove. Faulkner turned out for Rajasthan Royals and played four out of five games for the franchise in IPL’s first leg.
“That was my first ever tour (to the UAE), and what I got out of that was the wickets we played on had a little bit in them early with the new ball,” he said.
“It would swing and seam and it was quite tough at the start of each innings, and after that it was pretty good batting conditions; the ball came off the square quite nicely and all the grounds were in very good condition."
