3 minute read
Australia's chief selector George Bailey has backed Aaron Finch to find form for the Twenty20 World Cup, while Usman Khawaja doesn't expect to join him there.
George Bailey has downplayed any concerns around Aaron Finch's white-ball form ahead of the Twenty20 World Cup, adamant he will be fine for the tournament.
Australia's limited-overs captain struck a timely 55 in the one-off T20 against Pakistan on Tuesday, after a miserable run with the bat in the national side.
Coming off a pair of ducks in the one-day series, Finch's half-century also followed 16 scores below 50 in white-ball cricket for Australia dating back to last March.
The run of outs - and average of 19 in that time - had prompted questions over whether Finch will lead October's home T20 World Cup defence.
The right-hander has also made clear he wants to play on until the ODI World Cup in India late next year, after Australia's exit in the semi-finals in 2019.
But chief selector Bailey said he felt no need to be relieved with Finch's runs in Lahore.
"I always know it's coming with Finchy," Bailey said.
"He said it himself, he would have liked to have contributed more.
"But we have so much cricket in the lead up from now until that T20 World Cup and the build up to the one-day Cup.
"He's got a great opportunity and a little bit of time to be able to focus on some of the technical things he wants to work on.
"I'm confident that Finchy will come good and be firing in the lead up to and including the World Cup."
Finch's captaincy is also likely to hold him in good stead.
Pat Cummins has stated he doesn't want to captain all formats, and Australia did not officially announce a deputy in their two most recent white-ball series.
Under Finch, Australia defied history and the odds to win last year's T20 tournament while they are also among the world's top-ranked ODI teams.
"(With) the leadership that he provides ... we're starting to get some some good buy-in to the way we want to play," Bailey said.
One man who doesn't expect to feature in the white-ball sides is Usman Khawaja.
Having earned a career revival in Test cricket, the 35-year-old has not played limited-overs for Australia since being injured in the 2019 World Cup under a different selection panel.
"I haven't bothered asking to be honest," Khawaja said.
"The last time I got dropped from the white-ball squad I was averaging over 50 and I think I was the second or third-highest run scorer in that calendar year.
"So after that happened, I pretty much just stopped giving a crap about it to be honest.
"If they want to pick me they can pick me, if they don't my head's not really there."
