Sydney,March 24: Australian opener Aaron Finch, finding ways to battle demons at the batting crease in the ICC Cricket World Cup semifinal against India, has admitted that India would be a tough team to beat. “There’s no rocket science they’re bowling well, they’re batting well. They’re going to be tough to beat,” he said, praising the bowling at Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s disposal.
“When you’re looking to be aggressive with the new ball, having been here for four months has probably adapted their lengths a little bit. (Mohammed) Shami is bowling well. He’s swinging the ball which is a huge factor for them at the start of the innings. They’ve probably played a lot more cricket here and got used to the conditions, the length you bowl and stuff like that.
“Shami is up there with the leading wicket-takers of the tournament Umesh Yadav, Mohit Sharma, they’ve been bowling well as a group. With our side we’re confident that we can negate that. Yes they’ve got some quality spinners but at the same time, wickets are generally pretty true here,” Finch said.
“We’ll sit down as a batting group (later on Tuesday) and talk about their bowlers a bit more. Ashwin’s a quality bowler. As long as you have your own individual plans, it’s important to stick to them. He’s bowled well throughout the tournament. He’s bowled in some difficult phases of the game and done well. It’s going to be an exciting challenge for everyone,” he said.
He also revealed that it had not slipped the Australians’ attention that in the last few games India have had one top-order batsman batting through innings. “Rohit Sharma batted deep in the last game. That makes a huge difference because you’ve never got two new batsmen at the crease. That’s the important thing for all teams, not just India. Our job is to take early wickets and put as much pressure on them as we can,” he said.
“During the summer, we played some really good cricket against India. They’re a team that have played beautifully throughout this World Cup, obviously undefeated so far. They’ve grown in confidence all through. When you look down our team we match up quite well, they match up well against us too. So it’s going to be a great game,” he said.
Finch said he had not really had a look at the SCG pitch. “The last time I played here it looked like the wicket would spin quite a bit; but it didn’t and it played really true. Still two days out and it’s hard to tell. The wicket can change quite a bit in two days, especially here in Sydney,” he said, long before the ground staff had to bring covers on to protect the track from rain.
“They’ve gone with a game plan that seems to be clicking for them now. After the Test series and the Tri-series, and when we played them again in the warm-up game, their plan doesn’t look to have changed too much. I suppose they’ve just spent a lot more time in the country,” he said. “In terms of psychological stuff, they’ve been playing well. So have we. I don’t think guys move on pretty quick from that kind of stuff.”
Finch expects the biggest game he has ever have played to be a huge occasion. “You can’t put it any other way. It’s going to be exciting. It’s a huge opportunity to show our skills off as a team. We’ve played some great cricket over the last two years and there’s no reason we’re not going to go into this game confident. I think we’ve got every right to be,” he said. “Whatever happens I suppose if we stick to our game plans and play well it goes a long way towards winning the game. It’s about being aggressive without being over the top.”
