Practice match it may have been and Australia may have lost to India, but out-of-sorts Australian captain Aaron Finch still enjoyed his best innings in almost two years at the Gabba on Monday.
Finch’s 76 from 54 balls, with seven fours and three sixes, came just five days before Australia’s opening Twenty20 World Cup match against New Zealand at a sold-out SCG.
The innings will not be counted in official records, but neither will Australia’s loss from a winning position. Needing 187 for victory, the home side was bowled out for 180 after four wickets fell from the last four balls. Mohammed Shami claimed three wickets among them with a run out preventing a hat trick.
Finch described his innings as “pretty good”.
“I’m happy, it was nice to get a few in the middle,” Finch said. “It would have been nice to get us over the line, but you can’t win the World Cup in a practice game.”
Relishing the pace and bounce of what has been described as the best pitch in the world, Finch batted with sure timing and solid footwork. It was his best score since 79 not out against New Zealand in Wellington 31 innings ago, in March last year.
Australia opener Aaron Finch hits out against India on Monday.Credit:Getty
It bettered his most recent half-century, 58 against the West Indies on the Gold Coast earlier this month, one of just two T20 international 50s he had scored in his past 25 innings.
Finch was forced to retire from one-day cricket last month after a string of low scores.
After seven single-figure scores, Glenn Maxwell made 23, but it was far from convincing. After being dropped second ball, Maxwell later top-edged a reverse sweep into his left cheek, abandoning his cap for a helmet.
In the absence of David Warner, who suffered whiplash landing awkwardly attempting a catch in Canberra against England last Wednesday, Mitch Marsh opened the batting.
A mix of powerful blows and fortuitous edges, which can be so productive in T20 cricket, saw Marsh race to 35 in just 18 balls before chopping a wide delivery into his stumps.
Despite flicking a six over the leg side into an empty Gabba grandstand, Steve Smith again failed to master T20 cricket, bowled for 11 from 12 balls.
Smith looks set to be forced out of the side again when Warner returns for Saturday’s opening game. Matthew Wade, Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa were also rested with an eye on bigger things.
Australia did well keeping India significantly below 200 given their start and the quality of the visitors’ batting line-up.
On a true Gabba pitch, KL Rahul was in sublime touch. He reached 50 from just 27 balls after India had raced to 0/50 in four and a half overs.
Rahul holed out from Maxwell’s off-spin at deep midwicket with 57 from 33 balls. His last eight runs came in as many balls.
The most pleasing aspect of Agar’s performance was not his 1-36 from four overs but the fact he showed no signs of a side strain which had prevented him from bowling since a one-day match against Zimbabwe in early September.
