Australian Test opener and limited overs captain Aaron Finch has spoken out on former captain Michael Clarke’s views that the Australian team had not competed hard enough with the Indian team in the 2018-19 series.
“Everybody knows how powerful India are in regards to the financial part of the game, internationally or domestically with the IPL.
“I feel that Australian cricket, and probably every other team over a little period, went the opposite and actually sucked up to India. They were too scared to sledge Kohli or the other Indian players because they had to play with them in April,”Clarke had told Big Sports Breakfast.
Responding to this, Finch denied that the Aussies were playing to save their IPL contracts. He said that Clarke was entitled to his views but the Australian players were just looking to find their own way of playing Test cricket.
”They were obviously not being nice to impress because they wanted an IPL contract. There is nothing about it. If you ask anyone playing on the field they will tell you that it was very very tough. It was played in the right spirit but it was very tough. Not sure where it was coming from,” Finch was quoted as saying on Sports Tak by India Today.
“The team was going through a transition and there were a lot of players trying to find their way in international cricket and doing that against India. Talking as a batsman, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohammad Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Ravindra Jadeja and Ravichandran Ashwin, you can’t hide against that kind of attack.”
”Michael said we were being nice but people were just trying to find their own game, they were trying their best way to play Test cricket. But everyone is entitled to their views, he might have seen something from the outside which we didn’t see from inside,” Finch added.
India beat Australia 2-1 to register their first ever Test series win on Australian soil in 2018-19. India are set to tour Australia later this year and if the tour goes ahead, with the coronavirus pandemic playing havoc, then the Australians will get a chance to make amends.
