It was a conscious effort to go all out against RCB: Aaron Finch

Coming into this IPL, swashbuckling batsman Aaron Finch wasn’t in the best of forms and struggled big time in the initial few matches until he finally found his rhythm against Royal Challengers on Thursday. Playing for the Gujarat Lions, the solid built Finch smashed the listless RCB bowlers all around the stadium and remained unbeaten in 72 of a mere 39 deliveries, an innings constructed with 5 fours and a half of dozen maximums.

He played some exceptional shots during the innings and allowed Gujarat to chase the total down with more than 6 overs to spare which will help them at the fag end of the tournament when the net run comes into question. While he loves opening the batting and belting the bowlers all round the park during the powerplay but he conceded that he can bat at any position as long it bring success to the team.

I don’t mind batting anywhere. I’ve batted most of my career opening. I played a little bit at No 5 last year and at 5 or 4 this year. But I think today was more of a match up against the opposition. We knew that they’d open with (Samuel) Badree, (Yuzvendra) Chahal has been bowling in the Power Play, and Pawan Negi as well. It was a case of having a left-hander at the top,” Finch was quoted as saying by the Deccan Herald.

“Brendon McCullum has been in fantastic form and I’m comfortable batting anywhere. But yeah, I do love opening, the field is up more often and it gives you more chances to hit boundaries, but like I said, I’m happy to bat anywhere,” he further added.

Gujarat lost both their openers in quick succession which pegged them back a little but Finch started counter attacking which shook RCB. He revealed that it was a conscious effort to play the big shots despite the falls of the wickets. They were chasing a modest score and the counter attack was the need of the hour.

“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 from the side to attack the game. Even if something did happen, there was a couple of guys behind myself and (Suresh) Raina — like (Ravindra) Jadeja, (James) Faulkner and Dinesh Karthik. If something went wrong, we could still pick up the pieces,” Finch said.

He further hailed the bowling brigade of Gujarat Lions which restricted RCB to a paltry score of 134 in their 20 overs. “Anytime you take wickets in the Power Play, it’s a huge bonus. It goes a long way in restricting. Today was a pretty polished performance, and we saw young quicks like Nathu (Singh) and Basil (Thampi) really stand up with the new ball,” Finch signed off.