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‘Will be a very important factor’: Ashish Nehra picks Australia’s ‘key player’ for India T20I series
Former India pacer Ashish Nehra picked Australia's ‘key player’ for the upcoming T20I series vs India, and stated that his runs will be important for the visitors.
With Aaron Finch announcing his ODI retirement during Australia's recent home series against New Zealand, all eyes will be on the 35-year-old in the upcoming T20I fixtures vs India. Despite his ODI retirement, he will remain as the T20I captain and will lead the team in the upcoming series. Former India pacer Ashish Nehra feels the batter will be the visiting side's 'key player' in the series, starting from Tuesday in Mohali.
Speaking on Cricbuzz, Nehra said, "Key player I would say is Aaron Finch because he's captain and he's someone who has not been in the best of form in the last few months if you see. He has retired from 50-over cricket, but is still playing T20 cricket."
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"He will be opening. If you can lead from the front, if you go into the tournament with confidence, it makes a big difference."
"His runs are important for Australia and its dressing room atmosphere."
"So Aaron Finch will be a very important factor for Australia in this particular Series going forward in the World Cup", he further added.
Many fans and experts feel Finch's ODI retirement decision comes after his poor form this year in that format. He will be hoping to find some momentum ahead of the upcoming T20 World Cup, scheduled to begin in October this year. Meanwhile, former Australia captain Ricky Ponting feels Pat Cummins could become Australia’s next ODI captain. Speaking on The ICC Review, he said, "I think it’ll be Pat Cummins, to be honest."
"I know he doesn’t play all the ODIs for obvious reasons, because his workload in Test cricket has been, like all the fast bowlers, very high in the last few years.
"I know they are very conscious of making sure that they’ve got Cummins, (Josh) Hazlewood and (Mitchell) Starc a 100 percent fit and healthy for the big Test series to come around.
"But look, I’ll be surprised if it wasn’t Pat Cummins", he further added. The first T20I between India and Australia will be held in Mohali's Punjab Cricket Association on Tuesday, followed by the second T20I at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur on Friday. The third and final T20I is scheduled for Sunday, at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.
