Having followed the matches in the first week of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2020, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) opener Aaron Finch expects dew to play a major role as the tournament progresses.
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Looking at the pattern, it can be said that teams are preferring to chase after winning the toss with pitch getting easier in the second half and a wet ball making life tougher for the bowlers.
“The dew will play a big part in the tournament. The last three games, the game at Sharjah (yesterday) and our game here, there was more dew than expected,” Finch quoted as saying by PTI on the eve his team’s clash against Kings XI Punjab in Dubai.
“I think as the games go on and there will be lots of games played over and over on the same wickets, the wickets will get slower and the dew factor will become even more.
“You still have play at our best. You can’t use that as an excuse. If you happen to bat first on a slow wicket, you have to adjust to that and come up with plans to give yourself every opportunity to be successful in all conditions.”
The totals are expected to get lower as the event progresses but Finch reckons it is too early to come to a conclusion.
“It is hard to say. There have been handful of games so far and they (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah) are totally different surfaces. It is just going to be a case of adjusting as quickly as possible.”
Asked about tackling slow and dry pitches, the Australian white-ball skipper said: “It is game to game. When the dew comes they turn into nice wickets. You can’t set up one particular style of play.
“The first match here (DC vs KXIP) the ball bounced, seamed around. You got to be flexible for every match.”
Finch has arrived in UAE having led Australia in three T20Is, three ODIs against England and he is enjoying the captaincy burden off his shoulders.
“It is really great to be able to just worry about playing. Obviously we have team meetings and I am still heavily a part of them. But just to be able to play the game and not captain for a few games feels nice.”
He also said that it is nice to play alongside Kohli and not against him.
“I have always had huge amount of respect for how he goes about his game. He is obviously very aggressive on the field and his body language is fantastic,” Finch said.
“Playing against him is a great challenge, you have to be committed 100 percent. He has had the better of us a lot of times, so, it is nice to be playing alongside him for once.”
(With PTI inputs)
