Aaron Finch backs Ashton Agar to be 'real finisher' for Australia in T20 World Cup 2020

Australia kickstarted their preparations towards winning that solidarity silverware that has alluded the proud cricketing nation: T20 World Cup, with a record 134-run win over the visiting Sri Lankans. The win was spearheaded by a swashbuckling batting performance-led by the mercurial David Warner, who scored his maiden T20I hundred and a comprehensive bowling performance-led by Adam Zampa (3-14) and Ashton Agar (1-13).

With Australia getting off to a great start, Aaron Finch and the team management sent Glenn Maxwell ahead of Steve Smith, denying the former captain to play his first innings on home soil post his ball-tampering ban. Finch said that he wanted his batsman to be ready to play anywhere in order to match situations, to make the team more competitive when they host the T20 World Cup.

“I think at all times, you’ll see four or five guys in the sheds with their pads on. To be really flexible as a middle-order, prepared to go in at any stage, is important to catch teams off guard. If you’ve got left and right-hand combinations, there are a few options there, so it’s a nicely balanced side at the moment.” Finch said as quoted by CricketNext.

Agar working hard on his batting- Aaron Finch

As a part of developing the squad for the quadrennial event, skipper Aaron Finch is confident that left-arm spinner Ashton Agar can blossom into a swashbuckling “finisher” in the batting line-up to lend more flexibility to the set-up. Agar averages 13.66 from 16 T20Is and while the left-arm spinner still has a long way to go in establishing himself as an all-rounder, Finch feels that Agar is working hard to get there.

“His batting’s still developing. Something that he’s been working on is becoming that real finisher towards the back end of an innings in T20 and in one-day games. So if he can keep developing that, it’ll give you a lot of options to play that second spinner or go with four quicks, or if there’s another all-rounder that comes in.” Finch said.

Meanwhile, Australia will look to take an unassailable 2-0 lead in the 3-match series when they take on Sri Lanka at the Gabba on Wednesday.

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