Ian Chappell Names 3 Players Who Can Replace Aaron Finch As Australia's T20 Captain

Former Australia captain, Ian Chappell has named three players in Pat Cummins, Alex Carey, and Moises Henriques, who he believes are good enough to take over the captaincy reins from Aaron Finch if the opener continues his poor form with the bat and as a captain.

Finch has been in a serious rut of dismal form, as a batsman and as a skipper. He has not scored a fifty in his last 26 T20 innings dating back to the IPL;  he could manage only 179 runs in 13 Big Bash games at a strike rate of 113.29 as his side Melbourne Renegades finished at the bottom of the table in BBL 2020-21.

He played a struggling knock of 12 off 14 balls in a run chase of 220 against New Zealand; Australia lost the match by 4 runs! He also went unsold at the IPL 2021 Auction after being released by RCB following his disappointing show last season.

Apart from Renegades finishing with the wooden spoon, Australia has lost their previous two T20I series against India and England and trailing by 2-0 to New Zealand with 3 games left in the series.

Pat Cummins is my first-choice captain to replace Finch: Ian Chappell

With a T20 World Cup in the sight this year in India, and while Finch will be given a longer rope by the management, however, there have been now mild doubts over the right-hander’s place in the eleven with several options of batting and captaincy around the team – Steve Smith as well is now eligible to lead Australia again.

For Ian Chappell, it is Australia’s spearhead pacer, Pat Cummins who is the frontrunner for the job. Cummins is already the Test vice-captain, and as Chappell points out he is one of the first names on the team sheets.

The 77-year-old cricketer-turned-commentator then names Alex Carey and Moises Henriques as candidates for the leadership roles. Under Carey, Adelaide Strikers recently qualified for the playoffs in the BBL, while Henriques led Sydney Sixers to consecutive BBL title victories. However, the all-rounder was dropped for the New Zealand tour in presence of Marcus Stoinis and Mitchell Marsh.

“Patrick Cummins is, of course, one they’ve got earmarked for leadership. They’ve had Alex Carey dangling there for a while, and he’s the Adelaide Strikers’ captain, so he’s got experience. The one other candidate I’d have there: Henriques. He’s had success with the Sydney Sixers, and he’s good enough to hold his place in the side,” Ian Chappell said on Wide World of Sports.

“The first thing with Cummins – and he’d be my first choice – is he’s going to hold his place in the team all the time, and secondly, he’s an inspirational cricketer; if you can’t be inspired by Pat Cummins, no one is going to inspire you,” the former skipper added.

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