India vs Australia 2017: There's Obviously A Gap Between The Sides At The Moment: Aaron Finch

With Australia finding it tough to get of better of India at the moment, opening batsman Aaron Finch has admitted that there is a gap between the reigning World Cup holders and the newly-turned number one ODI side.

After two batting failures that resulted in defeat in the first two ODIs, Australia showed a significant improvement in the third ODI with comeback man Aaron Finch’s century setting up the tone for a good start. However, the middle-order once again failed to get going as the visitors could manage only 293 for six from 224 for two after 38 overs. In reply, India chased down the total with more than two overs remaining to seal the five-match series.

Speaking after match, Finch said that the teams need to be at their best to beat India in subcontinental conditions and talked about the gap between the two teams.

“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,” he added.

The three successive defeats, meanwhile, have extended Australia’s poor away record in recent times. The world champions have not won a single game in their last two away One-Day Internationals series and are headed in the same direction in the ongoing series against too. Last year, they suffered their first-ever whitewash in a five-match series against South Africa before New Zealand defeated them 2-0 earlier this year.

Talking about the current results, Finch said: “Whenever you’re losing, it’s never easy. 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,” he added.