Australia v India ODI series: Aaron Finch returns refreshed to lead Aussies after Sydney Test axing

Aussie ODI skipper Aaron Finch reckons it would’ve been an easy call to drop him from the Test team and said he had no ‘bullets to fire back’ when coach Justin Langer pulled the trigger.

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Aaron Finch reckons it would’ve been an easy call to drop him from the Test team and said he had no “bullets to fire back” when coach Justin Langer pulled the trigger.

Finch was mentally and physically fried after spending just 12 days at home in the past eight months as he was installed Australia’s ODI and T20 captain and parachuted into the Test team.

Aaron Finch has no gripes with Justin Langer about his Test dumping.

The destructive opener was give last week off to freshen up, which he spent mowing the lawns, enjoying a few beers, spending quality time with his wife and sleeping in his own bed.

“That was really refreshing, it’s something I haven’t done in a long time,” Finch said.

“Going from last season, getting married, going straight to the IPL, straight to the UK and staying there for a few months with ODIs and County Cricket, and then straight to Dubai there was a period where I was home for about 12 days in eight months.

“It makes it really difficult. Sometimes people forget about that. Mentally when you’re training and travelling and playing so much it can wear you down.”

Langer tried to warn Finch how arduous his road ahead would be as a Test opener.

“I spoke to JL before the Dubai series and he said, ‘You’ll be surprised how mentally drained you are after the two Tests there’,” Finch said.

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“You think about playing four-day cricket and think, ‘Yeah, I’ll be a little bit tired’ and after the two Test matches I was like, ‘Jesus, I need to take a step back and think about this’.

“It was a really hard time.”

Victoria coach Andrew McDonald bats Finch in the middle order to maximise his destructive power against the older ball, but the Colac batsman had no gripes about being dumped from Australia after five matches as an opener.

“I haven’t got any runs, that’s the reality – (I made) two 50s in five Tests,” Finch said.

“I said this when I got dropped from the one-day team after a really lean run – at times you’d like to have some bullets to fire back, but there’s just none when you’ve made two 50s and averaged 16 for the series.

Aaron Finch has had a rough time of it in the Test arena since a promising start.

“I think it would’ve been a pretty easy call to be fair.”

While Finch’s omission from the fourth Test was disappointing, he was thankful for the opportunity to return home.

“To (spend) a few days and sleep in my own bed and spend a bit of one-on-one time with my wife, that wasn’t in a hotel room somewhere else in the world, was really nice and a little refresh that I needed,” he said.

“It’s definitely no excuse for not getting many runs throughout the Test series, by any stretch, but it was just nice to be in familiar surroundings for a bit.”

Finch didn’t pick up a bat during his overdue break but said he was feeling confident heading into the ODI series.

Aaron Finch played for the Renegades on Monday night in the BBL.

“I like to have a really long hit before a series starts and then top up and make sure you’re fresh mentally and physically and emotionally to go out and give everything you can,” he said.

“You don’t want to walk off after going out in a Test match or a one-dayer and think, ‘Geez, if only I had of hit more balls’.”

Finch was unsure whether the selectors would pick him for the squad to play Sri Lanka, which will be announced on Wednesday.

Originally published as Australia v India ODI series: Aaron Finch returns refreshed to lead Aussies after Sydney Test axing