It's great to be able to just worry about playing: Aaron Finch

Aaron Finch was the marquee signing for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2020 Dream11 IPL auction. The Australian skipper who came to Dubai after successfully leading Australia to a  2-1 ODI series win over England seems to be ready to adapt to whatever role the franchise offers him to play.

Speaking to Times of India, the 33-year-old said that playing without the burden of captaincy for some time would allow him to focus on his game even better. “It's great to be able to just worry about playing. Obviously, there are some meetings we have with plans and preparations for the game that I've to still be part of, which is great. I love that side of the game, but just to be able to play the game and to not captain for a few games is really nice.”

Finch feels great to be sharing the dressing room with Indian captain Virat Kohli. “I've always had a huge amount of respect for the way he goes about the game. He's obviously very aggressive on the field with his captaincy and his body language is fantastic. Playing against him is a great challenge because you know that you have to be 100% committed and at all times. Playing with him is great. I've played a lot against him so it's great to have him on my side for once.”

During RCB’s first match against Sunrisers Hyderabad, the Aussie opener played a supporting knock. “I think I can play whatever role that is required by the team. Dev (Devdutt Padikkal) obviously got off to a great start the other day, so then it was my job to just try and get him back on strike and let him keep playing well and aggressive. But there'll be some days when that role is reversed and I'll get off to a bit of a flyer and then our partnership becomes important again. I think my game has evolved probably by playing more T20 cricket. You understand roles and game scenarios a bit more. Hopefully I can contribute heavily for RCB.”

The Victoria-born cricketer heaped praise on the young Karnataka batting sensation. “Having seen footage of him playing before, he is an aggressive opening batsman. He's done really well in U-19 and domestic cricket as well, so I was just very happy that he played his natural game and played to his strengths. The conversation out in the middle were just game scenarios like who we are matching up against, what plans each of us are going with and what areas we were targeting against each player.”

Finch also talked about the playing conditions in the UAE and how the dew becomes an important factor while a plethora of matches are being played on the same wicket. “I think the dew will play a big part in the tournament. Probably the last three games and the game in Sharjah (on Tuesday), there was more dew than expected. As the games go on and a lot of games are played on the same wickets, they will get slower and the dew will become even more of a factor. But you still must play your best and can't use that as an excuse. If you happen to bat first on a slow wicket, you should adjust to that and come up with plans and processes to give you every opportunity to be successful in all the conditions.”

Aaron Finch believes this could be an opportunity for Josh Philippe to make a good name for himself. “I think he's someone who has so much talent that he can play many roles. We've seen how successful he can be at the top of the order in Big Bash. He's got a lot of talent and skill.”

[With TOI inputs]