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Updated June 24th, 2019 at 19:08 IST

Aaron Finch says that he has no hesitation in batting down the order for Australia at World Cup 2019

Australian limited-overs captain Aaron Finch has said that he does not mind batting down the order in the World Cup.

Reported by: Karthik Nair
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Australian limited-overs captain Aaron Finch has said that he does not mind batting down the order in the World Cup. Australia will be heading into the quadrennial event in England & Wales as the defending champions. 

The 32-year old batsman has opened the batting for Australia in 98 out of his 100 ODI innings. He had found a good opening partner in David Warner and together they have provided a lot of solid starts for Australia including the World Cup in 2015 which the Aussies went on to win. However, David Warner was banned from International Cricket along with Steve Smith for 12 months due to the infamous ball-tampering incident in South Africa last year. Finch then found an opening partner in Usman Khawaja.

READ: HOLI NOSTALGIA: When Team India Conquered The West Indies In Back-to-back World Cups

In the absence of Warner, Finch produced stands of zero, three, 76, 83 and 193 with Usman Khawaja in the recent five ODIs against India. However, things became complicated for Finch when Khawaja rediscovered his rhythm in the India series. Khawaja was adjudged Man of the Series for scoring 383 runs which included two centuries. Now with the return of Steve Smith and David Warner combined with Khawaja's good form, Finch has decided to bat in the middle-order during the World Cup. He had batted down the order (at number five) twice during last year's ODI series in England. He has vowed to do whatever is best for the team.

"If that means me batting at six, I'll comfortably do that. If its at the top, three or four - it doesn't matter. Personal results aren't what this side is about. I think that's what has made our improvement as dramatic and quick as it has been, " Finch said.

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Finch could not make an impact with the bat in the recently concluded ODI series against India as he could manage only 183 runs at an average of 22.87. He will be leading Australia in a five-match ODI series against Pakistan which starts from March 22 in UAE. 

Australia will start their World Cup campaign against Afghanistan on June 1 in Bristol.

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Published March 21st, 2019 at 14:48 IST

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