After ending his 12-year international career, Australia’s Twenty20 skipper, Aaron Finch, stated it was time to move on.
The 36-year-old made his international retirement from the game’s shortest version known on Tuesday.
The T20 team should be allowed to transition into a new stage so that a new captain can take charge and lead them in a different direction, according to Finch.
“Now is the proper time to step down and give the squad time to organise and grow towards that tournament,” said the player, “Realizing that I won’t be playing on until the next T20 World Cup in 2024.”
He stopped playing one-day international cricket in September, but he continued to captain the T20 team during the dismal home World Cup defence last year.
Josh Hazlewood, a speed demon, withdrew from the opening Test against India on Thursday due to an achilles issue.
With more than 8,500 runs in all three formats of the game, including five Test matches and 146 ODIs, he ends his international career. He made his T20I debut in 2011 and went on to represent Australia in 103 games, serving as captain and helping the side win the 2021 World Cup.
It has been an amazing honour to play with and against some of the greatest players of all time while representing Australia for 12 years.
He retires as one of the most successful players in the 20-over format; he twice held the record for the greatest T20 international score (156 against England in 2013; 172 against Zimbabwe, five years later); he also holds two of the three highest scores in T20 international cricket.
This season, Finch was a standout in the Big Bash League once more, collecting 428 runs for the Melbourne Renegades and was named to the team of the competition.
