Finch identifies Mayank Agarwal as Hitman's replacement, says 'he has been in great form'

As India gear up to lock horns with Australia on Friday morning in the first ODI of the three-match series, the Men in Blue will be without their star performer Rohit Sharma, who has been rested for both the limited-overs series. While the Aussies will be delighted to face the Indian team without talisman Rohit Sharma, skipper Aaron Finch has identified the possible replacement and exuded confidence in his side to get the better of Virat Kohli & Co. The Australian skipper also spoke of his experience with Virat Kohli in the Bangalore campaign and labelled the Indian skipper as the best ODI player of all time. 

Speaking of Rohit Sharma's injury ahead of the first ODI, Finch said, "He is obviously a great player and someone who has had quite a bit of success against us in the past. It (Rohit's injury) is unfortunate. You want to play against the best players all the time but whoever he is going to replace him, possibly Mayank, he has been in great form as well. So you take away a lot of experience but you also bring in another quality player."

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When asked if he noticed any weaknesses in Virat Kohli during the IPL 2020, Finch said, "He doesn't have too many to be honest. If you look at his record it is second to none. We have to keep looking to get him out. When you go away from that and look to contain players you can sort of miss a trick there. There are not too many chinks in his armour, he is probably the best one day player of all time."

The Australian skipper also expressed confidence in his side's balance, however, he also agreed that it would be a bit difficult for the all-rounders to bowl out in the absence of Mitchell Marsh. "I really like the balance of our side at the moment, don't get me wrong...What Maxi has shown in T20 cricket, in particular, is that his bowling keeps improving all the time and Stoinis has proved that as well with the amount of exposure he has had over the past couple of years bowling in the death," he said. 
A limited number of fans will be allowed into the stadium for the entire series against India comprising ODIs, T20s, and Tests. Finch is excited about their return.

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India tour of Australia 

India will kick off their tour to Australia with a three-match ODI series starting on Friday, 27 November, followed by as many T20Is and four Tests. The T20Is will be played in Canberra (4 December) and Sydney (6, 8 December). The ODI series will also be significant as it will be a part of the ICC Super League.

The first Test will be a day/night affair, from 17-21 December at the Adelaide Oval. The Melbourne Cricket Ground (26-30 December) will host the Boxing Day Test, before the action moves to the Sydney Cricket Ground (7-11 January) and the Gabba (15-19 January). 

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• Australia ODI squad: Aaron Finch (Captain), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Daniel Sams, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade (wicketkeeper), David Warner, Adam Zampa.
• India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (Captain), Shikhar Dhawan, Shubman Gill, KL Rahul (vice-captain), Shreyas Iyer, Manish Pandey, Hardik Pandya, Mayank Agarwal, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Mohd. Shami, Navdeep Saini, Shardul Thakur, Sanju Samson (wicketkeeper).

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(With PTI Inputs)