MS Dhoni and Eoin Morgan are regarded as two of the best-ever white-ball captains to have led their respective countries in international cricket, and in particular in T20Is.
Another brilliant candidate that has emerged in recent years is Australian captain Aaron Finch. Finch had taken over the white-ball captaincy amid turbulent times in Australian cricket in the aftermath of the Sandpaper gate, and propelled the side to their maiden T20 World Cup title last year in the UAE.
Now, Aaron Finch recorded a major milestone as Australia’s T20I captain, and usurped to the top in this list, surpassing both Eoin Morgan and MS Dhoni.
In the third T20I of the series against England, on October 14 in Canberra, Aaron Finch became the most capped T20I captain in international cricket.
AaronFinch has now led Australia in 73 T20Is, breaking the record of 72 matches as T20I skipper by both Dhoni and Morgan. Of the 73 matches under Finch’s captain, Australia have won 38 and lost 31, but crucially they won all but one match in last year’s T20 World Cup in the UAE. Finch proved to be the lucky factor as well – since he won the tosses in the semi-final and final in chasing-friendly conditions.
New Zealand’s Kane Williamson has led his country in 63 T20Is to date, followed by 59 T20I caps for Babar Azam as Pakistan’s T20I skipper. India’s Virat Kohli had 50 and Rohit Sharma has 45.
Meanwhile, Australia suffered a 2-0 series loss against England right before they host the T20 World Cup and commence their title defence. Captain Aaron Finch cited fatigue in the squad players as one of the reasons for their loss to Jos Buttler’s side. Finch, though, remains confident that Australia can peak at the right time in the coming month.
Australia played England, West Indies and India in T20I series and before that, they had featured in ODI series against New Zealand and Zimbabwe.
“Think the guys are probably a little bit tired at the moment in all honesty. The schedule has been so packed over the last six or eight weeks. We identified a couple of months ago that we want to be peaking at the right time for the World Cup and not beforehand so it’s going to be important over the next couple of days to try and freshen everyone up as much as we can,” Finch said.
Australia play India in a warm-up match on October 17 before they take on New Zealand for their first Super 12 match.
