Australia captain Aaron Finch admitted that he was disappointed after he went unsold in the IPL 2022 mega auction, but "jumped" in excitement when he got a call from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) to join the side as a replacement for Alex Hales.
Hales pulled out of the IPL 2022, citing bubble fatigue, and it opened the door for Finch to feature in the ongoing tournament. He joined KKR at his base price of Rs 1.5 crores.
As reported by PTI, Finch told the KKR website: “It’s just a great competition to be a part of and I think when you’re not here you really miss it. To have the chance to train and play with the best players in the world consistently I think makes everyone better.”
The opening batter added, “Yeah, of course. Yeah (I was disappointed). But then to get the call from Baz (head coach Brendon McCullum) to come and join KKR, I was very excited and jumped at the opportunity. But in the years gone past, there are times when you get a little bit nervous because you’re hopeful of getting picked. So that’s what you miss the most and that’s what you get most nervous about, maybe missing the opportunity sometimes.”
The Australian skipper was impressed with the way his teammate, Pat Cummins, was batting in IPL 2022. Cummins hit a 14-ball fifty against MI, which tied him for the fastest IPL half-century with KL Rahul.
Finch added, “Absolutely, I was taken aback by it! We call him IPL Pat because he bats a lot better in the IPL than he does for Australia. He’s played some great innings for KKR and he works hard on his batting so it was great to see him continue that aggressive mindset batting at No 7 to come out and keep swinging hard from ball one and change the momentum of the game, it was brilliant.”
Hailing KKR’s all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer, Finch said: “He’s very intelligent with his batting. Because he’s so tall, he’s got so many options. He’s got a great reach so teams struggle to tie him up because he’s got so many options around the ground and his ability to play both sides of the wicket.”
On KKR’s aggressive brand of cricket, the Aussie star said: “I love that style of cricket because those days when it doesn’t happen for you but all it takes is one person to change the game. So when they turn up against KKR, (they) are fearful because they know they are going to come out attacking all the time.”
Finch signed off by saying, “That automatically puts them on the back foot a bit also. So it’s a super way to play I think. And there are days when it’s going to go wrong but that’s okay because, over a 14-game season, you’re hoping that it’s going to go right more often than not.”
(With PTI Inputs)
