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Missed chances have cost Aussies: Finch

Australia are getting a taste of their own medicine as their record losing streak away from home continues

Opener Aaron Finch says the Australian one-day side's current malaise is the toughest time he's experienced in the national set-up since he made his international debut almost five years ago.

Finch, a World Cup winner who scored his eighth one-day international century on Sunday, has been a regular member of Australia's ODI XI since the start of 2013, missing just 20 of 103 matches since his debut and losing just 26 games, a win percentage of more than 61 per cent.

Nine of those defeats have come in the past 12 months as part of a record-breaking losing streak away from home that has Australia facing the prospect of finishing this current series against India as the world's fourth-ranked side.

A 0-5 series defeat in South Africa 12 months ago, a 0-2 series loss in New Zealand earlier this year and a winless Champions Trophy campaign in June has been followed by three consecutive losses here against India, who themselves are riding a nine-match winning streak.

Finch, who was dropped for Australia’s 4-1 series win at home against Pakistan in January, has won just three of his past 14 ODIs in total and watched from the sidelines for a further two defeats to start this series before he recovered from a calf injury.

And the experienced Victorian concedes his once dominant side are losing confidence as their winless run grows.

"Whenever you're losing, it's never easy," he said after scoring 124 in Indore on Sunday.

"Winning away from home is what every side strives to achieve and I think whenever you start losing, you can lose a little bit of confidence in yourself and in the way you're playing.

"The couple of away series that we've played, in South Africa and India, we've lost the series against some quality sides.

"You have to play well but I think you also have to go in with the right attitude and make sure that when you do get an opportunity to win a game, you don't let that slip.

"We've been in a couple of good positions in the first few games and as soon as you give India a sniff, they'll beat you nine times out of 10."

Finch crunches comeback century

While still a dominant force at home having lost just six of 45 matches in the past five years, the Australians are currently getting a taste of their own medicine abroad.

Having not lost more than four matches consecutively away from home in the past two decades, during which time they have been crowned world champions four times, a streak of 11 losses from 13 games (including two no results) represents an all-time low.

"You have to play 100 per cent to beat (India) in these conditions," Finch said. "If you play 90 per cent, it's not good enough here.

"It's how we've played for the past four or five years in our conditions. Teams have to be at their absolute best to beat us.

"There's obviously a gap between the sides at the moment and they're proving that. They're 3-0 up, they're the No.1 side in the world and there's just a few things we need to tinker with as players to bridge that gap and get the results going our way."

On a personal level, Finch has revealed he had to convince the team's medical staff to let him play in Indore having raced to overcome a calf problem he re-aggravated in Chennai 10 days ago.

Having initially feared his tour was over when he injured his right calf in a training warm-up, Finch was put through a strenuous fitness test on Saturday, led by experienced physio Alex Kountouris.

But the opener still had to talk his way back into the side.

"I had to convince them to let me play, to be honest," he said with a smile. "If it had have gone again last night, I might have been in a bit of strife.

"But the amount of work that I'd put into it and the amount of physio and rehab that I'd had, it gave me a lot of confidence that I'd get back and play and be 100 per cent fit. So it was nice for that to hold up."


Australia's Qantas Tour of India

Australia ODI squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.

Australia T20 squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Jason Behrendorff, Dan Christian, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa.

India squad (first three ODIs): Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.

ODI Fixtures


September 17: India won by 26 runs (DLS Method)

September 21: India won by 50 runs

September 24: India won by five wickets

September 28: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru

October 1: VCA Stadium, Nagpur


T20 Fixtures


October 7: JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi

October 10: Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati

October 13: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad