Opener discusses playing to his strengths and how he combats the spin challenge in India
Finch in form but still wants more
He's set the Indian Premier League alight with three man-of-the-match performances in four starts, but Aaron Finch says there is still an area of his game that needs close attention.
Finch has been at his destructive best in the IPL this season with new outfit Gujarat Lions, posting scores of 74, 50, 67no and 0 – the latter a four-ball duck against Sunrisers Hyderabad on Thursday.
While Finch's prowess against pace is known the world over, it's been his ability to play the turning ball that has been most impressive this IPL season.
Finch says his game against spin has developed since his first visit to the subcontinent as a teenager to the point where it's almost automatically activated when he touches down in India.
But there's one particular type of slow bowler that still causes the former Australia T20 captain issues.
"You have to be prepared to let the ball spin in the subcontinent," Finch told Star Sports.
"In Australia the ball doesn’t traditionally spin too much. Playing a traditional off-spinner can be quite easy for a right-hand batsman just because it doesn't spin, it bounces truly into your bat.
"Over here I think you have to target different areas of the ground which has great challenges; you might have to change your technique slightly, you might have to change your mental approach slightly.
"I think my first trip here was when I was 17 or 18 with an Australian Under-19 team.
"I've been coming here a long time, as most players in the IPL have.
"It's about almost having some default setting that you come back to every time you come back here and changing your game accordingly.
"Saying that, left-arm spin, to me, is still a challenge, whether it's in Australia or over here.
"You still have to have basic plans or a basic technique to try and combat that."
Despite his self-confessed issues negotiating left-arm spin, Finch has done remarkably well against them, and leg-spinners also turning the ball away from him, so far in this competition.
In his first match, against Kings XI Punjab, he took slow left-arm bowler Axar Patel for nine runs off the seven balls he faced, and 12 runs off seven deliveries against leg-spinner Pardeep Sahu.
At home against Pune Supergiants in match No.2, the Victorian dominated Murugan Ashwin, hitting four boundaries off the eight balls he faced from the leggie.
Like he did against Sahu in his opening match, Finch fell to Ashwin, but the damage had already been done.
Up against Mumbai Indians' left-arm spinner Krunal Pandya, Finch was watchful, peeling off just seven runs from 12 balls, deciding not to take a risk and boss the other bowlers instead, like he did off-spinner Harbhajan Singh for 18 runs off nine deliveries.
While Finch reverts to his "default setting" against the subcontinent spin, he never shies away from what has got him to be the No.2 ranked T20 batsman in the world.
"For me that's one of strengths and I try to stick to those strengths, and it's about trying to not play like someone else," he said.
"It's about trying to be true to who you are as a player and what strengths you have.
"The day you go away from that and try to play like AB de Villiers ... if I do that I'll look stupid and won't get a run.
"If I try to play like Glenn Maxwell, that's just out of the question for me.
"It's just about being true to myself and playing to my strengths, and trying to evolve with the game as well.
"Making changes as the bowlers get better, as the game evolves so that I'm also quite current."