Glenn Maxwell hopeful of Aaron Finch making a comeback to the Test side

Aaron Finch’s Test career has not panned out in a promising manner. The Australian selectors raised quite a few eyebrows by giving him his Test cap for the series against Pakistan in UAE. But the experiment did not work out and Finch is now out of the team after playing just five games.

While his form has not helped his cause, one should consider that Finch did not get his usual batting position in red-ball cricket. He is a middle-order batsman in first-class cricket but was asked to open in Tests on the back of his success in the limited-overs format. However, Finch miserably failed to replicate his white-ball success in Tests. He started well on the slower, lower pitches in the UAE and finished the series as the third highest run-scorer, amassing an impressive 181 runs in 2 Tests at an average of over 45.

However, things did not pan out in the same manner in the ongoing series against India. He started the series with a duck and followed it up with an 11-run knock as Australia lost the Adelaide Test. A fifty in the second Test helped him retain his place for the third Test. However, scores of 8 and 3 and a heavy 137-run loss made the Australian selectors drop him for the final Test in Sydney.

Maxwell hopeful of Finch getting a lifeline

Meanwhile, Finch’s Victoria and Australia teammate Glenn Maxwell is hopeful that the axing is not the end of the road for him in the longest format of the game. He also stressed that Finch should be given his preferred position to bat when he earns a recall from the Test side. “I hope that (being dropped) doesn’t finish Finch off as a Test cricketer and hopefully next time he gets an opportunity he can bat in a position that I think – and a lot of Australia thinks – he’s more accustomed to.”

Maxwell further said that the success as an opener in UAE might have brought about the downfall of Finch in Australia. “He was probably a victim of his own success in the UAE. Having batted so well as an opener there it probably drove the Australia selectors and coaches to put him up there (against India) and I suppose that was fair enough. Hopefully, at some stage, he gets an opportunity to bat in the middle order and show the class he does have,” he said.

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