IPL 2019: 3 teams that can benefit by picking up Aaron Finch in the auction

Finch, the Australian limited-overs skipper is a hard hitter and can win matches single-handedly for his team on his day. He also holds the record for the highest individual score in T20Is. At Present, Finch has over 7500 T20 runs and is one of the best T20 batsmen in the world.

Finch, who has over 1700 IPL runs from 75 games, was underutilized by KXIP last season. He had to adjust himself in the middle order due to the presence of openers like KL Rahul, Chris Gayle, Mayank Agarwal in the KXIP squad. As a result, Finch had his worst IPL season where he only managed 134 runs from 10 games at a dreadful average of 16.75.

Aaron Finch's IPL career is a perfect example of player mismanagement. He somehow manages to find teams with a plethora of openers. In 2014 he played for SRH who already had a settled combo of Dhawan and Warner, similarly, in 2015, he played for Mumbai Indians who had the likes of Simmons, Rohit, and Parthiv. Therefore Finch either had to play in the middle order or warm the benches.

On that note, let's take a look at three such franchises where Finch could be at his destructive best.

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#1- Royal Challengers Banglore

The Royal Challengers Banglore had a disappointing IPL 2018 as they finished on the 6th place failing to make the playoffs. Last season they signed the likes of Chris Woakes, McCullum, de Kock, Anderson. These players failed to live up to RCB's expectations and left Kohli and ABD to do the bulk of the scoring.

After releasing multiple openers in Brendon McCullum, de Kock, and Mandeep Singh from the squad for the next season, RCB would be looking to strengthen their batting order by adding some star power at the top of their batting line-up. In such circumstances, Aaron Finch might just be the right buy for RCB.

Moreover, Aaron Finch has had a great 2018. This year Finch has amassed a total of 1295 runs from 36 innings at an average and strike rate of 51.8 and 175.23 respectively. In these 36 games, he also has three hundred and six fifties.

#2- Sunrisers Hyderabad

SRH would hope to repeat the success of 2016 in 2019.

Sunrisers Hyderabad, who ended up as runner-up in the previous edition of the IPL, have traded the financially unhappy Dhawan to DD in exchange for Shahbaz Nadeem, Vijay Shankar, and Abhishek Sharma and hence, need an opener. Moreover, the fact that Warner would return after serving a one-year ban and may not be the former himself would also concern the SRH management. Hence, SRH would look for a good opening batsman at the auction who would consistently provide the team with solid starts. Finch, who represented SRH in the 2014 season may just be the player SRH are looking for.

The trio of Warner, Finch, Williamson would make for a strong top order. With Manish Pandey and Yusuf Pathan to follow, SRH's batting prowess would be second to none. Unlike KXIP Finch would get to express himself at the top for SRH.

#3- Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals

Rajasthan Royals finished 4th in IPL 2018, losing to Kolkata Knight Riders in the Eliminator. Rajasthan Royals, who had won the inaugural edition of the IPL, have failed to repeat that success ever since. Rajasthan has released the likes of Short, Henrich Klaasen, Jaydev Unadkhat and Ben Laughlin for the upcoming season of the IPL.

After releasing Short, Rajasthan's management would be looking for a third opener for them alongside Rahane and Jos Buttler. Rahane didn't have a decent outing last season and failed to score runs at a high strike rate last season. Hence, Royals would be looking for a hard-hitting opener who can give them flying starts and support Buttler from on the other end in the Power Play overs.

With his attacking style of play, Aaron Finch might solve the opening woes of the Royals by giving them solid starts and building massive stands with Steve Smith.