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Aaron Finch softens his stance on Australian players participating in IPL

Australian limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch has taken a U-turn on the comments he made that the players who opted out of the recent tours to Bangladesh and West Indies. Finch has course-corrected himself after stating earlier that the players who missed the recent tours would find it hard to justify in playing the Indian Premier League. Speaking cricket.com.au, Finch admitted that he had overlooked the bubble fatigue issues which was the main reason behind several of their top-flight players opting out of both the tours. Australia suffered morale shattering 1-4 series defeats at the hands of West Indies and Bangladesh. 

David Warner, Glenn Maxwell, Pat Cummins, Marcus Stoinis, Kane Richardson, Jhye Richardson and Daniel Sams had all made themselves unavailable for the tours to West Indies and Bangladesh. Steve Smith was also out of the series owing to an elbow injury. 

"(Those comments) were more based around the bubble fatigue and I probably didn't take into account the toll the full summer took on guys as well," Finch told cricket.com.au.

"That was a long summer, especially for guys who started on the UK tour. I probably didn't take that into account when I made those comments before the West Indies tour," he added.

"If you throw all that together and throw in the IPL straight on the back of it, and a lot uncertainty around that and some really strict bubble protocols - I didn't take that into account."

Finch had to miss the tour of Bangladesh in August owing to a knee injury. Bangladesh went onto register their maiden bilateral series victory over Australia. With the upcoming tri-nation series involving Afghanistan and West Indies under serious doubt, Finch feels that the exposure in the IPL especially in similar conditions will help them get acclimatised to the conditions ahead of the T20 World Cup. 

Finch who currently doesn’t have an IPL contract after being released by the Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2020, feels that the players have to make sure that they are in right spirits and the bubble fatigue doesn’t affect their performance, especially in the World Cup. He further added that the players should be mindful of their workloads in the IPL to ensure full fitness for the mega event. 

"The fact that guys have had a decent break now, they will be charged up and ready to go for the IPL and then the T20 World Cup, then a huge summer against England," Finch said.

"Guys have still got to be really mindful of how they manage themselves during that (IPL) period, because there is no escape from the game. There's no going down the road to relax and grab a coffee, or having a beer together outside the cricket environment, “ Finch added. 

Australia will kick off their T20 World Cup against the Proteas on 23rd October in Abu Dhabi. The Aussies will have their task cut out especially with No 1 T20I side England and the defending champions West Indies drawn in the same group. 

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