Australia v India T20: Captain Aaron Finch promises tough approach
Australia skipper Aaron Finch has rejected claims his team is tame and hurt while insisting they will not resort to sledging India this summer.
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Australia skipper Aaron Finch has rejected claims his team is tame and hurt while insisting they will not resort to sledging India this summer.
India will make its first appearance of the tour in Wednesday night’s Twenty20 clash against Australia at the Gabba.
The three-match T20 series is a precursor to four highly-anticipated Tests in which India has been heavily backed to win.
India has never won a Test series in Australia, however the ball-tampering suspensions to Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft have left the home team vulnerable.
Australia has been struggling in all three forms of the game recently, losing Test, one-day and T20 series to Pakistan and South Africa over the past two months.
South Africa captain Faf du Plessis yesterday labelled Australia “tame” and “hurt” as the national side struggled to overcome the ball-tampering saga which has also resulted in a massive off-field administration clean-out.
Finch, Australia’s one-day and T20 captain, rejected claims his team had lost its killer instinct after pledging to clean up its act on the field with a new players’ pact.
“Going hard doesn’t mean you be verbal or in people’s faces,” he said.
“It can be about your body language and presence at the crease or ball in hand. That’s presence, fierceness and tough cricket.
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“The verbal stuff is the easy stuff and that gets a little lost sometimes.
“South Africa were all over us from the start of that series with the ball so it’s pretty hard to come out and have so much presence when they are so far ahead in the first game.
“We’re still as intense and desperate to win, no doubt. It’s about going about that in the right way.
“Playing hard is part of the Australian way. For different people that means different things.
“It’s not all about verbal or things like that which people tend to get confused with at times.
“They talk about being tough and aggressive and that means verbal but I don’t see it as that.
“It’s about your body language and presence on the ground. That’s what Australia has always prided itself on in all sports.
“It’s still 100 per cent there. It has been a difficult time of late with the wins not stacking up, but that can change quickly.”
India captain Virat Kohli said Australia was still stacked with talent despite the loss of Smith and Warner.
“To be honest, they still have world class cricketers,” Kohli said.
“Obviously missing out on two of the best batsmen is not an ideal thing for any team, but even then they have guys who can do damage.
“We will definitely not take anything for granted here.
“The vulnerability factor, it basically depends on how the team plays on a particular day.
“We haven’t played against Australia after everything that happened so I can’t really say what the atmosphere is going to be like on the ground.
“We will definitely have to be at our absolute best to win against Australia in Australia.”
Australia has lost its past four T20 matches and fell to South Africa in a rain-affected “10-10” contest on the Gold Coast on Saturday night.
Despite the run of poor form, Finch insisted the No. 3 ranked Australia could bounce back against No. 2 ranked India on Wednesday night.
“We’re still very confident in this format,” he said.
“India have been in great form in all three forms of the game for a long time now.
“It’s going to be a great opportunity for us to come out, express ourselves, play some aggressive attacking cricket and take the game on and really take it to India.
“It’s a great advantage for us to be able to start off in this format against India.
“They’ve been so dominant in this format that I think people have forgotten we’re actually playing it sometimes.”
The Test series against India begins at the Adelaide Oval on December 6.
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