India vs Australia | Alex Carey hails Aaron Finch’s off-field contributions
Alex Carey has come up in support of the current ODI skipper Aaron Finch and has mentioned that a lot of credit goes to the work that Finch has put in for the team. The wicket-keeper has also underlined the fact that a series win against India will be the real confidence booster for the Aussies.
Australia got off to a great start in the ODI series after the Indians scripted a historic Test series win Down Under. But, the concern for them is the recent form of their stand-in skipper Aaron Finch who got out for only six in the Sydney ODI. The top-order batsman had struggled in the T20I series against the Men in Blue as well as he got scores of 27, 0 and 28 in the three games. However, wicket-keeper Carey is of the opinion that the numbers don’t show the real contribution of Finch for the Aussie unit.
"Finchy is a really proud Australian cricketer and he wants to bounce back and he wants to score big runs for us. The work he's doing off the field, he's so close to really nailing a match-winning inning. His leadership has been fantastic around the group. Having a guy that has made 11 ODI hundreds around our group and an experienced head out... he has been amazing off the field," Carey told at the press conference, reported Cricbuzz.
In the absence of senior cricketers Steve Smith and David Warner, who were banned for the sandpaper gate controversy last year, the Aussies haven’t done well in recent days in international cricket. They certainly want a fresh start to the year 2019 in which they will be playing the ICC Cricket World Cup in a few month time. As they lost the Test series and prior to that the T20I series did come to an end with a 1-1 draw, the Kangaroos want to turn things around against Virat Kohli and his men in the 50-over format.
"As a cricket lover, I want to see Australia winning. And being a part of it, it means so much to us every game we play. So the series win would be a great result and a really big confidence booster. To continue to get better every game is probably our biggest process at the moment leading into that World Cup. Not thinking too far ahead, bringing it back to tomorrow night, but if we're playing the cricket we know we're good enough to play, the results will probably look after themselves," the Aussie vice-captain said.
Australia had sent Marcus Stoinis ahead of Glenn Maxwell in the first ODI and coming out to bat at no. 7, Maxwell could get only five balls to face towards the end. Meanwhile, Carey has backed the decision saying that Maxwell doesn’t need too many balls to make an impact in the game. He also mentioned that Mitchell Marsh, who missed the Sydney ODI after suffering from gastritis, might be ready for selection for the second one in Adelaide.
"To have Glenn Maxwell sitting in the sheds ready to go with two, three overs to go, I think that's a pretty powerful position for our cricket side to be in. He has had lots of opportunities up the top of the order before... you could argue the point he should be batting higher. Personally... it's pretty exciting to have that power hitting later in the innings. He doesn't need too many balls to make a big impact," the wicketkeeper explained.
"Mitch is good... he's back fully fit and ready to go. He is going to have a bowl today and he will have a hit, so we will see how he pulls up."