NZ vs Aus: Not easy to lead side when you're not scoring runs, admits Finch
Mar 04, 2021
Wellington [New Zealand], March 4 : Australia limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch has admitted that it is not easy leading a team for a player when he is going through bad form.
Finch finally returned to form as he played a match-winning knock of 69 runs off just 44 balls in the third T20I against New Zealand and with this win, Australia gained their first win of the five-match series.
"It was just nice to get a few runs, it's been a while. I was just short of runs. It's never easy when you're trying to lead the side and you're not performing as well as you would like personally. But you always put the team first. I felt as though my captaincy has been pretty good throughout this period as well, right through the Big Bash," cricket.com.au quoted Finch as saying.
Before the knock against New Zealand in the third T20I, Finch had just registered 495 runs at an average of 17.06 in his previous 29 T20 innings across both domestic and international cricket.
Finch also said that he evaluated his mental approach rather than making changes in his technique during his form slump.
"I obviously would have loved to have got some more but I was never doubting that I would never get runs again. T20 can be a brutal game at the best of times so just having the ability to take a step game and reassess my own game and go out there with as clear a mind as you can. When you're searching for a score sometimes you can forget the absolute basics, you get a bit fixated on the end result and not what's right in front of you at the time," said Finch.
"At times it was a little bit of wanting so desperately to get some runs that you forget to watch the ball. As soon as you don't ... one percent can be enough in this game to have you off and you're out. So it was just trusting my process that, for the past 10 years, has been pretty solid and has given me a great foundation to bounce back from," he added.
Australia and New Zealand will now lock horns in the fourth T20I of the five-match series on Friday. The series is currently led by the Kiwis as they have a 2-1 lead.
The visitors had gained a comprehensive 64-run win in the third T20I to register their first victory in the series.
