Finch will come good, says coach Langer

Australia head coach Justin Langer on Thursday backed captain Aaron Finch to "come good" during the five-match ODI series against India, beginning March 2.

Finch's lean patch has raised concerns following his return of 5, 41, 11, 6, 6, 14 in his last five ODI series and 0, 8 in the recent two T20Is against India.

"He [Finch] is such a good player, such a good person, captain of the team, we know he will come good. We have just got to keep giving him plenty of care and support. We know he will come good. There is no more destructive player in the world - we talk about Maxy [Glenn Maxwell], Marcus Stoinis, a number of our players who can be so destructive - but when he is going, he is as destructive as a player as there is in white-ball cricket," ICC quoted Langer, as saying.

 

Langer further said we will be patient with Australia captain as another important part about leadership is that Finch is really consistent.

"We have not seen any real change in his personality or his attitude around the group, so that is a real credit to him. That is why he is the captain of the team," he said.

With the two-match T20I series win against India, Finch will take tremendous boost in his captaincy. However, it would not have been possible without Glenn Maxwell's impressive performances, including a century in the second game.

Maxwell smashed an unbeaten 113 off just 55 deliveries to help Australia clean-sweep the T20Is. The 30-year-old, who walked in to bat at number four, plays the role of a finisher lower down the order in ODIs at number six or seven. In spite of his impressive innings, Langer ruled out pushing him up the order.

"He [Maxwell] will be the first to say it, that is what we have been crying out for some time from him. It just goes to show what he can do. When he does things like that, he elevates himself to a world-class performer. He wants that, we want that, and the more he becomes a world-class performer, the more games we win and the more he gets recognised as a great player," Langer said.

India and Australia will begin their ODI series with first match on March 2 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Hyderabad.