It was a conscious effort to attack, says Gujarat Lions opener Aaron Finch

"It was a very good performance from the team." - Aaron Finch.

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Aaron Finch
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Aaron Finch. (Photo Source: BCCI)

Australia’s Aaron Finch architected a clinical finish for the Gujarat Lions, who thumped an indefensible Royal Challengers Bangalore side by 7 wickets with 37 balls to spare in Bangalore. Following a professional performance with the ball, which restricted a batting-heavy RCB side to a mere 134, the Lions were powered by Finch to a comfortable victory.

More than the two points GL bagged, the victory bettered their net-run-rate. They were stuck at the bottom of the table with 4 points and an NRR of -0.844. Things look prettier now as the Gujarat Lions have jumped up two spots, and their net run rate looks considerably better at -0.360.

In the business end of the tournament, the net run rate can play a crucial role in deciding who makes it to the playoffs. The Lions were in serious need to improve there, and Finch was in top gear to ensure that the NRR was nursed to a certain extent.

During the post-match press conference, Finch mentioned that his onslaught was ‘a conscious effort’.

“Sometimes, in a small run chase, you can make the mistake of trying to bat slowly, and before you know, the run rate is 7, 8, 9 an over. It was a conscious effort to attack. We were just trying to get ahead of the run rate. So even if something did happen, there were a couple of guys behind myself and Suresh – Jadeja, Faulkner, Dinesh Karthik… if something went wrong, we could still pick up the pieces,” he said.

“At this stage, you still got to keep winning games,” Finch said. “If you’re in a position where you can really accelerate and make sure you finish as quickly as possible, it’s great. We’re lucky we got into a position like that tonight.”

The Royal Challengers have a pretty decent bowling attack but it has underperformed in the last couple of games. In the wake of a dismal 49 all-out against KKR, RCB were once again bundled out for a below-par score. Their bowling didn’t support them either as they offered full-length deliveries to the powerful Aaron Finch.

The burly Aussie bloke joyfully obliged and deposited as many as 6 into the stands.

“In the second innings, it came onto the bat nicely. Once the brand new ball was gone, there wasn’t much extra bounce. We thought it would be a little bit low and slow, but it played a lot better and turned out to be a pretty good wicket,” Finch said.

The Gujarat Lions still have an outside chance of squeezing into the playoffs. The team will take great confidence from their all-round performance in Bengaluru and look to maintain the momentum they’ve gained.

“It was a very good performance from the team tonight. We’ve put ourselves in this position by being poor in a couple of games. We’re still very confident, though. We have a good side, but time will tell. Yes, we are still very confident to go into playoffs. Last year, we won six out of first seven games. We are probably now in a position to win five out of last six. That is a great challenge, though,” Finch concluded.

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