IPL 2020 News: Aaron Finch excited to play under Virat Kohli at RCB

Aaron Finch excited to play under Virat Kohli: The Australian white-ball captain opened up on his Test career and IPL 2020.

Australia ODI and T20I captain admits that making a Test comeback will be “very tough” for him primarily because of the limited number of first-class matches he plays these days.

Finch, the last of whose five Tests was the Boxing Day Test against India in 2018, has scored 278 runs at an average of 27.80 including two half-centuries in the format. As Australia’s white-ball captain, Finch played a handful of Sheffield Shield matches in the last season.

“I would love to get an opportunity to play Test cricket again, but realistically I think it will be very tough to force my way back into the team. Not having the opportunity to play as much first-class cricket as I would like to put the required runs on the board makes it a bit harder,” Finch was quoted as saying by ANI.

Being asked about the best modern-day batsman across formats, Finch highlighted the consistent domination of Australia batsman Steve Smith and India captain Virat Kohli.

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“As for the best batsman in the world, you could throw a blanket over a handful of players over 3 formats. The consistency of Steve Smith and Virat Kohli in Test cricket both home and away over a long period of time probably makes them stand out from the rest,” Finch said.

Aaron Finch excited to play under Virat Kohli

Finch, who has represented as many as seven franchises in his decade-long Indian Premier League career, will be seen playing for his eighth team in Royal Challengers Bangalore. In 75 T20s in the cash-rich league, the right-hand batsman has scored 1,737 runs at an average of 26.31 and a strike rate of 130.69 including 13 half-centuries.

“I can’t wait to join up with RCB. To get the opportunity to play for a franchise that has some of the greatest players in the world is going to be fun. It would have been amazing to play in front of the home crowd at Chinnaswamy but representing the franchise in UAE will still mean a huge amount to me,” Finch told ANI.

Finch, whose 45 out of 192 international appearances across formats have come with India captain Virat Kohli in the opposition team, will play under him at Royal Challengers. The 33-year old player expressed excitement regarding playing under someone of Kohli’s stature.

“It will be my first time playing under Virat’s [Kohli] leadership but something I’m very excited about. Having played against him for a number of years now in international cricket and IPL I know how driven and competitive he is, that something I’m looking forward to seeing up close,” Finch added.