He was the biggest disappointment for RCB: Aakash Chopra slams this player for poor IPL 2020

Following the conclusion of the cricket carnival that was IPL 2020, many players and fans are analyzing the performances of the season which saw players return after a long cricket hiatus.

Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra was analysing the season of Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), where he named Australian limited overs skipper Aaron Finch as the biggest flop for them.

“Aaron Finch was the biggest disappointment for RCB this season. They had put huge stakes on him and stuck with him for a long time as well. You expect the Finch hitting from him,” Chopra said on his  show Aakash Vani. A glimpse of Chopra’s observations can be seen here:

Finch was lacklustre in the tournament, scoring just 268 runs from 12 matches at a paltry average of 22.33 and a sub-par strike-rate of 111.20. The Aussie had opened the innings with Devdutt Padikkal but looked very rusty in the middle.

 Chopra emphasised that even though Finch got a number of opportunities, he failed to capitalise on them – which came at the cost of other players.

“He got a whole lot of chances to bat. So no one can say that he played in this team and was not given the chances. You can say that for Moeen Ali, that he was in and out of the team but Aaron Finch played all the matches, I mean he played 10-12 matches at the start,” he explained.

Finch, was bought for a whopping Rs 4.4 crores by RCB, but failed to justify his lofty price tag, scoring just one half-century in the tournament.

“But the form was not seen at all. Neither the form was seen nor the runs. He was even dropped at the end and then brought back again because Joshua Philippe did not do a great job either,” the former India opener said.

Chopra believes that as a senior cricketer Finch failed to carry out his responsibility and that his lack of runs put added pressure on Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers.

“But you had more expectations from Aaron Finch. Because imagine if Devdutt Padikkal was playing well from one side and Aaron Finch had been playing well, then the pressure and responsibility would have been less on Virat and AB de Villiers,” Chopra said.

Chopra gave examples of other openers like KL Rahul and Quinton de Kock who were vital cogs for their sides as they gave strong starts.

“And you need a Quinton de Kock type of performance or say the KL Rahul or Mayank Agarwal type of performance that suddenly catapults your team to greater heights.

“But that did not happen with this team. And the main reason for that was the big-stake player who was played, that is Aaron Finch and from RCB’s perspective he was a bit of a disappointment,” he signed off.

RCB, however, managed to reach the Playoffs stage of IPL 2020 – where they got knocked out by SunRisers Hyderabad.