Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch is excited with the prospect of playing under Virat Kohli’s leadership in the 13th edition of Indian Premier League, slated to be held in UAE from September 19 to November 10.
Finch, who has previously turned up for a number of IPL franchises, was roped in by Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at the IPL 2020 auction for 4.40 Crore.
"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 in an exclusive interview.
"It will be my first time playing under Virat's 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," he added.
Finch is captaining Australia’s white-ball teams for a while now and he is hoping that his leadership skills will come in handy for the franchise.
"I hope that my experience will come in handy, being able to help out anyone I can during the IPL. If that means I can help take some pressure off Virat then I will do everything I have to," he remarked.
Aaron Finch also explained why Virat Kohli and Steve Smith are being deemed as the two best batsmen in the world currently.
"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," he stated.
The 33-year-old also shared his two cents as to why the India-Australia series is considered as "marquee" event in world cricket.
"The passion of Australian and Indian fans, along with an amazing history of close and competitive series makes it a marquee series. The pressures, the expectations, and the rivalry make it a brilliant series to be a part of," he explained.
The T20 World Cup was slated to be held in Australia in October-November this year, but it has been suspended due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The ICC has now scheduled three World Cups (T20 World Cup 2021, T20 World Cup 2022, and 50-over World Cup 2023) in the next three years and Finch said he is looking forward to his side being really competitive in all those events.
"World Cups are obviously the pinnacle of the white ball game and T20 is a format that we probably haven't played our best cricket in the past. Having played a lot more of this format over the last couple of years as a team, we have seen some great improvement and it is really exciting. We feel as though our game plan can stand up to the pressure of a World Cup, then it just comes down to executing your skills on the day," he asserted.
