Australia’s limited-overs captain Aaron Finch has said Tim Paine’s men need to strike a fine balance when it comes to confronting Virat Kohli during the Test series opener in Adelaide from December 17. Finch, who is not part of the Test squad, said Australia wouldn’t want the India skipper to get up and about in the contest during the day-night fixture.
Aaron Finch, who has had duels with Virat Kohli in the past, spent time with the India captain at Royal Challengers Bangalore during Indian Premier League 2020. Finch said Kohli is more relaxed on the field but warned the hosts against riling him up.
“I think there will be times when things boil over and when you have got strong characters on either team that’s going to come to a head at some point,” Finch told Sydney Morning Herald.
“(But) there is a fine balance there, isn’t there? You don’t want him (Kohli) to get up and about in the contest. When he does, he can be ruthless on the opposition.”
Finch also spoke about his time at RCB, saying he was surprised to see the level of confidence Kohli had in his teammates. Finch said the RCB captain never really focussed on the opposition but had a clear understanding of their team’s plans and playing XI.
“What really surprised me was how, he obviously does a lot of planning and preparation himself, and into the opposition, but he never focused more on the opposition than his own team,” he said.
“At Bangalore, he was always confident in the XI players that were picked and knew that if you played well, you had every chance of winning. I was really surprised by how confident he was in everyone, he had a lot of time for everyone. He was great around the group, a lot more relaxed.”
