Australia who is scheduled to tour India for a three-match ODI series will have Andrew McDonald as a stand-in coach and as per him, the explosive opening batsman Aaron Finch has matured immensely as a cricketer and filled the “void in terms of captaincy”.
“I think the growth of Aaron Finch in his leadership role in the last three years has been tremendous. It has filled the void Australia had in terms of captaincy. His growth has been outstanding, his understanding of individuals has been great,” he said in a media interaction at Mumbai on Friday (10 January).
IND v AUS 2020: Important not to "overplay" the Jasprit Bumrah factor, says Aaron Finch
When asked about how Finch has evolved as a skipper, McDonald said, “I think he has just matured as a cricketer, understands his game, understands the opposition and the people around him and all of it has helped him become a fine leader for the country.”
The 38-year-old then talked about the last home series against India where the Men in Blue really troubled the Aussie as he said, “He was challenged in Australia by the Indians. He is better prepared for what India presents to him on this tour.”
“But I don’t think he was ever down and out as a player. I think the natural progression of him in his career, it’s always when you get 27-28 years of age, you start to figure things out. There was a bit of a purple patch in terms of his One Day International form,” he added.
Thus, it will be interesting to see how Finch performs in this upcoming away series against India starting at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai on Tuesday (January 14).
(With PTI inputs)