Courtesy: Cricket Australia/X
Aaron Finch, the former captain of Australia in limited-overs cricket, is celebrating his 38th birthday on November 17, 2024. During his illustrious career, which spanned for the better part of 12 years, one of the proudest moments for Aaron Finch happened when he won the ODI World Cup at home in 2015 after Australia defeated New Zealand in the final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). In the ODI format, he played 146 matches, scoring 5,406 runs at an average of 38.89 and strike-rate of 87.73 with 17 hundreds and 30 fifties.
One of the best innings for Aaron Finch in 50-overs cricket came in the opening match of the ODI World Cup 2015 against the arch-rivals England when he scored 135 runs, to set the tone for Australia in the home tournament. It is often mentioned that the best format of Aaron Finch during his international career was the ODIs, where he scored the bulk of his runs at the highest level. But, he was quite exceptional with the bat in the T20 format, both internationally and at the franchise level.
In the T20 World Cup 2021, under Aaron Finch’s captaincy, Australia won the coveted world title for the very first occasion after getting the better of New Zealand in the final at the Dubai International Stadium. During his 103 T20I appearances for Australia, he scored 3,120 runs at an average of 34.28 and a strike-rate of 142.53, with the highest individual score in the history of the format. Finch scored 172 in just 56 balls, while smashing 16 fours and 10 maximums against Zimbabwe at the Harare Sports Club in 2018.
Apart from his exploits in T20I cricket, Aaron Finch also made a splash in franchise T20 cricket, playing all over the world in various tournaments, and donning the jersey of nine teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL). In the second half of his international career, Finch was part of the Australian Test team for a brief period in 2018, making just five international appearances before he wasn’t picked ever again by the selectors.
The final professional game for Aaron Finch happened in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2023-24 for Melbourne Renegades before he turned his attention into cricket commentary gigs worldwide.
