There's 100 per cent rivalry! Finch on IND-AUS battle in ODIs, T20Is

Oz skipper Aaron Finch with India captain Virat Kohli during a T20I at Melbourne in 2018. PIC/GETTY IMAGES

Though there is no confirmation on whether India's 2020-21 tour to Australia will go ahead due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the anticipation factor is not lost on players and fans.

Some have even gone on to claim that the intensity of an India-Australia Test series is equal to that of the Ashes. However, Australia's limited overs captain Aaron Finch believes the keen rivalry between both teams is very visible even in the 50-over and Twenty20 formats.

"It's hard to compare [Tests and limited overs]. One is the traditional game - the grind of five days wherever it is, India or in Australia - that mental battle day-to-day. The one-day game is a little bit more skill-based just on the day, obviously. If a couple of players in your team have a [good] day out, that goes a long way in winning the game. The rivalry is definitely there - 100 per cent. It's not a case of that being any less important or taken any less lightly - a one-dayer or T20I or a Test match," Finch said on Tuesday during an interaction facilitated by Sony Pictures Networks, the broadcaster for the series.

India are scheduled to tour Australia for three ODIs, four Tests and three T20Is between October this year and January 2021.

On a day when Australia indefinitely postponed their home series against minnows Zimbabwe, Finch & Co are now looking forward to a short tour of England in September. He called for flexibility in approach to tackle these uncertain times. "It just comes down to being really flexible and doing whatever is needed for world cricket to be back up and running and for all countries to be thriving and having the best opportunity to be successful. If you start looking at it as 'we need to play against a certain opposition' or something like that for your own betterment, that's when a lot of things can fall down. We just have to be focused on making sure that world cricket is back up and running and as many countries as possible are in a great state to be competing. I don't think that the right be-all and end-all is where you finish in rankings for a World Cup or anything like that. I just think the health of world cricket is important, and whatever that looks like, that's going to be flexible and is going to change on its head quite quickly, and there'll be some teams that probably have a tougher challenge to get where they need to be," he added.

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