Aaron Finch has an award-winning record as a player and captain. He had the honor of captaining Australia when they won the T20 World Cup in 2021, and he also led the Melbourne Renegades to a title win in the 2018-19 season of the Big Bash League. Along with that, he is also known to have some valuable insight when it comes to leadership in different cricket formats.
There is not a lot left to say about Finch’s accomplishments as a T20 player. He captained the Australian T20 side in 103 matches and scored 3120 runs. As for Finch’s domestic career, he is the second-highest run-scorer in the Big Bash League with 3311 runs and also holds that record for Australia in T20s with 11548 runs.
Aaron Finch shared his Indian Premier League Journey
The IPL runs Finch’s T20 career with nine different franchises, including a captaincy stint with the Pune Warriors. Finch has come out on record that none of the Australian, BBL, or international cricket captaining situations he’s been in comes close to the stress and demands of leading in the IPL.
The remarks of Finch bring into focus the multitude of leadership challenges and obligations that come with the IPL, which are unlike anything else in professional sports. With years of coaching and playing under some of the best leaders across the globe, Finch brings a unique perspective to the table that is much needed for nurture and guidance in the league. Given Finch’s vast playing experience as well as his status as a captain in international cricket, his opinion on the nuances and demands of leadership in the IPL holds a lot of significance.
“IPL was probably the hardest, because you’re coming together for a short period of time. At Pune Warriors, I came in as a replacement player and then two or three games later, I was captain. I just didn’t have the time to get to know everybody in the squad, which is really difficult. Captaining Australia, you’ve got some of the best players in the world all the time, so my job was pretty easy there. Everyone knows what they’re trying to do.I wasn’t as good in the IPL as I was playing for the Renegades or for Australia. At times, the pressure of trying too much and trying to force it a little bit much was there,” Finch told The Cricket Monthly.
The Rajasthan Royals selected Finch in 2010, and quite a year later, in 2011, he moved to the Delhi capitals. After spending two seasons with the Delhi team, Finch joined the Pune Warriors India in 2013 and took over captaincy. In 2014, with Delhi no longer in the picture, Finch was picked up by Hyderabad’s Sunrise. He then moved to the Mumbai Indians in 2015, which fueled his journey with the Lanka Lions for the next two years.
The Punjab franchise snapped him up in 2018 for Rs 6.2 crore. Finch’s journey with the franchises continued, as Royal Challengers Bengaluru bought him for Rs 4.4 crores in 2020. This season, Finch played for the Knight Riders Kolkata, marking his last season in IPL, as he came in for Alex Hales.
