SL vs AUS | Expecting tacky spin in first T20I: Australia captain Aaron Finch

The World T20I champions Australia are set to take on Sri Lanka in the first T20I at R Premadasa Stadium tomorrow (June 7). Led by Aaron Finch, the visitors announced their playing XI with four specialist fast bowlers, three pacemen, and one spinner.

Colombo has a past history of assisting spinners. While announcing their XI, Finch said that there was a temptation to play an additional spinner apart from Ashton Agar, who has some support from Glenn Maxwell and Steve Smith.

Mitchell Swepson is the second spinner in the squad in the absence of Adam Zampa, who is present with his wife back home for the birth of his child.

Finch speaking to cricketaustralia.au, said, "There was a temptation there (to play two spinners), but having seen the conditions over the last couple of days, the square is quite green, there's been a lot of rain around, and the outfield is quite heavy. Expecting there to be a bit of spin there, but it might be a tacky sort of spin. It's not a dry square; it's not a dry surface by any stretch."

"There hasn't been a huge amount of cricket here, and with it being the wet season, the wickets are under covers a lot more than what they generally would," Finch further added.

Matthew Wade, who won the IPL 2022 with Gujarat Titans (GT), got the nod ahead of Josh Inglis, who has grabbed every opportunity international cricket has thrown at him.

When asked about the 27-year-old's exclusion, Finch said that the youngster's time would come with the rotation policy in place, which isn't too far ahead.

"He's so close; he's really stiff. Every chance he's had, he's taken with both hands. He's a super talented young payer. He's shown his ability to float throughout the order in international cricket and domestic cricket.

He'll definitely get an opportunity with the quick back-ups between the three T20s and then the five ODIs being really congested. There will be an opportunity for Josh at some point. He's made every post a winner," the 35-year-old communicated.

With back-to-back games at R Premadasa, Finch spoke about the playing conditions that might play a part in the overall scheme of things.

"I reckon there will be quite a lot of sun over the next 24 hours, so that will dry it out. But it will definitely be on the slower side compared to what we're used to in these parts of the world, where they're usually lightning-fast outfields.

This will be a little bit more of a running game, I think the boundaries will be pushed back slightly. It will come down to using our smarts, using our ability to manipulate the ball into gaps and running hard," the Colac-born concluded.