ENG vs AUS 2018: Aaron Finch downplays ODI captaincy suggestions

Finch is currently leading the T20I side for Australia.

Aaron Finch (AFP)

Ahead of his team's lone T20 International against England, Aaron Finch has downplayed suggestions that he could be in line to become Australia's next ODI captain. It was a curious move actually, when Finch was not appointed the captain for the just-concluded ODI series in absence of Steve Smith. 

Finch has always come across as a natural leader and is currently captaining the T20I side but he isn't too perturbed by Justin Langer's recently expressed opinion that the head coach will reconsider the decision according to which Tim Paine led the side in the one-day series Australia lost 5-0. 

Finch who will be leading the side in Zimbabwe too, was quoted saying, "Honestly, I have not thought about it one bit, If the opportunity came up it would be an honour. I've lead the one-day side a couple of times before, I had the T20 role a few years back. But it's nothing that I've ever thought about"

"Tim is the captain and did a great job throughout the (ODI) series. It was disappointing that we didn't back up his leadership as well as we could have with our performance. We just let ourselves slip a couple of times."

Instead, Finch is focussed on making Australia a great T20 side with the endeavor to win the World Cup at home in 2 years time, in mind. 

He said, "I think it's just really important we start to nail down some continuity in our team and start to really make sure we're looking with one eye to the World T20 in 2020, That (tri-series) will be an opportunity for us to really start nutting out the way that we want to play and probably a 15-17 man squad that will carry us forward through that time. Definitely no auditioning (for the ODI captaincy) or anything like that at all, it's just about trying to stay as high as we can in the rankings and keep pressing really hard in this format."

(Inputs from Cricket.com.au)

 
 

By Kashish Chadha - 27 Jun, 2018

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