Glad that we don’t have to bowl to Babar anymore: Aaron Finch

Australia’s limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch has jokingly said he is glad that his side doesn’t have to bowl to Pakistan skipper Babar Azam anymore. Australia played their last game of the historic Pakistan tour with a T20I on April 6 in Lahore. In that game, the visitors beat the hosts by three wickets, chasing 163 runs. The tour started with a three-match Test series.

The first two Tests ended in a draw and the last game was won by the Pat Cummins-led side and clinching the series 1-0. In that series, Azam was the third-highest run-getter with 390 runs, and averaged 78 including the innings of 196 runs in Karachi where the team was chasing 506 to win. In the three-match ODI series, the right-hander scored 276 runs including two back-to-back hundreds in the second and third games.

In the sole T20I, the Lahore-born player scored 66 off 46. Meanwhile, after the win, Finch has said that the team is happy with the win after Pakistan openers, Azam and Mohammad Rizwan stitched a partnership of 67 runs.

“We were happy with that, after the start they got, we know that Babar and Rizwan – they are fantastic at the top of the order. Anything under 180 we were happy and Cameron Green turned it around with those wickets. Glad that we don’t have to bowl to Babar anymore,” he said

Finch added that the team will take every decision with the T20 World Cup in mind, which will be played in October this year.

“Really good sign of things to come for our white-ball team. Everything we do will be with one eye on the World Cup – both in the T20 format and the ODIs. Really proud of the entire group, we have been in bubbles and other things but the resilience shown over a couple of years has been fantastic. To see so many youngsters come into the Australian team and do well is exciting for the future,” he added.