Australian selector George Bailey has there was no doubt in his mind that Australian limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch will lead lead the side in the upcoming T20 World Cup 2021 in India.

Finch has attracted a lot of criticism since his batting form dropped in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2020/21 season, where he scored just 179 runs in 13 innings.

He is now leading Australia in a five-match T20I series against the Kiwis in New Zealand. They have lost the first two games with the skipper returning scores of 1 and 12.

George Bailey told the Melbourne Herald Sun, "He's (Finch) got a terrific average, he's the captain of this side and he'll be the captain of this side at the World Cup. (Criticism on Finch is) just complete white noise for me."

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The former cricketer also defended Finch's poor form in the BBL. According to Bailey, five months of playing cricket in bio-bubble took a toll on him and should have rested for a longer time before returning to the BBL. But he did it for the young Melbourne Renegades side.

Bailey said, "He was pretty zonked. But he tried to do the right thing and get back to help a young (Melbourne) Renegades side. His reflection on that was that he probably should've sat longer out and come back a bit fresher."

The 38-year-old also made a statement that Aaron Finch would end up in the top 5 or 10 leading run-getters in the format and continue to play well for Australia.

"He'd be in the top five or 10 leading run-scorers, and if he doesn't have the highest strike-rate amongst them he'd be absolutely close. And he's done it very, very consistently for Australia over a long period of time, and will continue to do so into the future," Bailey concluded.

(With AFP inputs)