Finch clarifies IPL position, backs T20 World Cup prep

Aaron Finch has walked back his comments warning those who pulled out of Australia's recent international tours would "find it hard to justify" subsequently playing in the Indian Premier League, which now shapes as vital preparation for a host of key players.

Finch admits he overlooked the effects of bubble fatigue from a gruelling extended home season which was a major factor for the majority of players who opted to stay at home and leave Australia's T20 and ODI sides severely depleted for series defeats in the Caribbean and Bangladesh.

Glenn Maxwell, David Warner, Pat Cummins, Kane Richardson, Jhye Richardson, Marcus Stoinis and Daniel Sams all made themselves unavailable for the tour – as did Steve Smith, due to an elbow injury – after spending months living under strict bio-security protocols.

An already taxing period for those players was capped by a nightmare end to the IPL, with players forced to return home via the Maldives after Australia closed its border to India due to that country's devastating COVID-19 surge.

That extended an intense period of cricket that began as early as August last year (for those who went on the limited-overs tour of the United Kingdom), with some hardly emerging from bio-secure bubbles until the IPL was suspended in May.

The Australian government's requirement for all international arrivals to undergo two weeks mandatory quarantine also remains a major disincentive.

Australia's squad that returned to Adelaide last week are currently unable to leave their hotel rooms to train.

Finch, in June, had cast doubt on players who pulled out of the tours returning to the IPL but told cricket.com.au on Wednesday that his thinking had changed “purely based on the amount of game time that's going to be available to them in the lead up”.

"(Those comments) were more based around the bubble fatigue and I probably didn't take into account the toll the full summer took on guys as well," said the 34-year-old, who himself has just emerged out of a fortnight of hotel quarantine in Melbourne after departing the West Indies tour due to a knee injury.

"That was a long summer, especially for guys who started on the UK tour. I probably didn't take that into account when I made those comments before the West Indies tour.

"If you throw all that together and throw in the IPL straight on the back of it, and a lot uncertainty around that and some really strict bubble protocols – I didn't take that into account."

The remaining 36 IPL games will be played between September 19 and October 15 in the United Arab Emirates, with Australia's first T20 World Cup game then to be played in Dubai on October 23.

Among Australia's leading T20 players, Smith, Warner, Maxwell, Stoinis, Zampa and both Richardsons all have IPL deals, while there is a question mark over whether Mitch Marsh, Josh Hazlewood and Josh Philippe will return after pulling out of the initial stage of the tournament.

Finch, Mitchell Starc, Matthew Wade and Ashton Agar are the most notable of Australia’s T20 mainstays to not hold contracts, while vice-captain Pat Cummins is expected to miss the IPL's resumption due to the birth of his first child.

While Finch expects Australia's IPL contingent to be recharged for the World Cup, he stressed the toll of bubbles will be as demanding as it was last summer.

"The fact that guys have had a decent break now, they will be charged up and ready to go for the IPL and then the T20 World Cup, then a huge summer against England," said Finch.

"Guys have still got to be really mindful of how they manage themselves during that (IPL) period, because there is no escape from the game.

"There's no going down the road to relax and grab a coffee, or having a beer together outside the cricket environment."

Finch also suggested even those who do not regularly make their franchises' best XI (considering teams can only pick four overseas players) will benefit greatly from regular training with the best players in the world and on the same grounds Australia will play on in their tilt at a maiden T20 World Cup title.

The schedules of squad members who are not IPL-bound remains less clear, with the domestic fixture again up in the air due to Australia's two largest states being in lockdown and Western Australia's borders being closed to every state and territory except Tasmania and the Northern Territory. 

Melbourne and Perth are currently scheduled to host the start of the Marsh One-Day Cup season in less than a month's time.

With a proposed tri-series with Afghanistan and West Indies unlikely to come to fruition, Finch said Australia's World Cup squad will need to rely on intense pre-tournament training sessions to get up to speed.

"There's two warm-up games once we get to the UAE for the World Cup, that's not a huge amount of game time into people," he said.

"It will come down to match scenarios, simulations and trying to get as close to international game intensity as we can in the lead up.

"With the experience in the squad, I've got confidence the guys in the squad will be knowing how to get themselves ready.

"It's no different to coming off a lay-off – besides the quarantine restrictions that guys have had and are currently having at the moment. I see preparation being pretty good still."

Australia are expected to name their World Cup squad later this week.

Australia's 2021 T20 World Cup schedule

October 23v South Africa in Abu Dhabi (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

October 28v Qualifier A1 in Dubai (6pm local time, 1am Oct 29 AEDT)

October 30v England in Dubai (6pm local time, 1am Oct 31 AEDT)

November 4v Qualifier B2 in Dubai (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

November 6v West Indies in Abu Dhabi (2pm local time, 9pm AEDT)

2021 T20 World Cup groups

Round 1

Group A: Sri Lanka, Ireland, Netherlands, Namibia

Group B: Bangladesh, Scotland, Papua New Guinea, Oman

Super 12s

Group 1: England, Australia, South Africa, West Indies, A1, B2

Group 2: India, Pakistan, New Zealand, Afghanistan, B1, A2

CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL 2021 ICC T20 WORLD CUP SCHEDULE