Australia's limited-overs captain Aaron Finch on Friday (June 25) said their upcoming white-ball tours of the West Indies and Bangladesh offer the players an opportunity to grab for the ICC T20 World Cup 2021 to be held in India in October-November.
Australia is all set to travel to the West Indies to play five T20Is and three ODIs, starting on July 9, and then Bangladesh to play five T20Is in early August as part of their preparations for the T20 World Cup 2021.
Finch said, “It'll give the guys on this tour an opportunity to almost take their [World Cup] spots, I guess. I think the great thing about Australian cricket at the moment is that the guys that are performing really well in BBL and domestic cricket are the ones that are getting the opportunities.”
On Australia’s 23-man preliminary squad for the West Indies and Bangladesh tour, the skipper said: “Playing cricket for Australia and doing well is the ultimate, in my opinion. So for guys to be on this tour to get the first opportunity to put their hand up and take that spot is what it's about. It's tough to ignore really good international performances.”
The batsman further added, “You have to go on current form. These conditions will be very similar to what we face in the T20 WC I imagine - especially St Lucia being used quite a lot and then Bangladesh being quite similar to India or UAE, wherever that lands.”
With the 2021 T20 World Cup likely to be held in India or UAE due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Finch has hinted that Australia's core team combinations could change a lot for the showpiece event keeping in mind the playing conditions.
He added, “Team combinations could change a lot. That was based on the World Cup being in Australia and I thought our side in the lead-up to the original World Cup meant to be held here was really settled. You have to keep restructuring your side to gather more information. The more the wickets change and the more they go away from our traditional Australian wickets, the more we have to keep learning.”
Australia hasn’t won the T20 World Cup yet and Finch said it is his dream to win the title and the time has come to break the jinx with back-to-back two tournaments coming up in 2021 and 2022.
Finch signed off by saying, “It'd be huge for Australian cricket. It's been the one that's eluded us for quite a while. We've been in good positions with really good teams but just haven't quite clicked and got it right in the business of the T20 WC. It's something we've been dreaming of. With back-to-back World Cups coming up, it's a great opportunity to show our skills.”
Australia squad:
Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.
(With Cricbuzz Inputs)
