'Skipper' Aaron Finch enjoying his IPL role

BENGALURU: Until a week ago, Australia's limited-overs skipper Aaron Finch was marshalling his team against England. Cut to the Indian Premier League in the UAE, and the top-order batsman is playing under Virat Kohli, his Indian counterpart, at the Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The 33-year-old from Victoria, who joined the RCB line-up this season, is happy to step away from the leadership role and enjoy his game.
As RCB, who won their season opener against Sunrisers Hyderabad, prepare to take on Kings XI Punjab on Thursday, the Australian spoke at length about Kohli, playing the IPL in the Emirates, and opening the innings alongside young debutant Devdutt Padikkal.

Excerpts:
Playing under another captain:
It's great to be able to just worry about playing. Obviously, there are some meetings we have with plans and preparations for the game that I've to still be part of, which is great. I love that side of the game, but just to be able to play the game and to not captain for a few games is really nice.
Playing alongside Virat Kohli and AB de Villiers:
It's obviously very exciting. It's something I've been looking forward to for a long time now. They're two great players but I think we've got a lot of strength in our team that we're not just relying on two players.
Relationship with Kohli:
I've always had a huge amount of respect for the way he goes about the game. He's obviously very aggressive on the field with his captaincy and his body language is fantastic. Playing against him is a great challenge because you know that you have to be 100% committed and at all times. Playing with him is great. I've played a lot against him so it's great to have him on my side for once.

On evolving as a player:
I think I can play whatever role that is required by the team. Dev (Devdutt Padikkal) obviously got off to a great start the other day, so then it was my job to just try and get him back on strike and let him keep playing well and aggressive. But there'll be some days when that role is reversed and I'll get off to a bit of a flyer and then our partnership becomes important again. I think my game has evolved probably by playing more T20 cricket. You understand roles and game scenarios a bit more. Hopefully I can contribute heavily for RCB.
The leadership role:
It's about helping each other as much as we can. If we think there's an opportunity where we can have an input, then great but sometimes too many people's inputs can confuse things a little bit. So, it's about picking that moment and making sure that our plans and preparations are done beforehand. Then you are just backing the guy's skill to be able to do the job on the day.
Advantage of having played the England-Australia series/ CPL:
Coming off competitive cricket has a little bit of an advantage sometimes, like the England and Australia series or the CPL. But once you get into the environment, it's about adapting to the conditions. So regardless of what happened beforehand, it's about adjusting in the middle.
The influence of Mike Hesson and Simon Katich:
They explain all the scenarios clearly. They don't let their emotions get the better of the decision making which is important as a coach or a manager. You just have to be able to separate the emotional part of it and keep coming up with the best decisions at that time. I think Simon and Mike do that really well.
On Devdutt Padikkal:
His composure under pressure was very important. At the start of the innings he was nervous but he played his natural game and stuck to his game plan as well. It was impressive to see the way in which he carried himself once his innings started to develop and how much he grew in confidence.
The start by his opening partner:
Having seen footage of him playing before, he is an aggressive opening batsman. He's done really well in U-19 and domestic cricket as well, so I was just very happy that he played his natural game and played to his strengths. The conversation out in the middle were just game scenarios like who we are matching up against, what plans each of us are going with and what areas we were targeting against each player.
On the dew factor:
I think the dew will play a big part in the tournament. Probably the last three games and the game in Sharjah (on Tuesday), there was more dew than expected. As the games go on and a lot of games are played on the same wickets, they will get slower and the dew will become even more of a factor. But you still must play your best and can't use that as an excuse. If you happen to bat first on a slow wicket, you should adjust to that and come up with plans and processes to give you every opportunity to be successful in all the conditions.
On Joshua Philippe:
I think he's someone who has so much talent that he can play many roles. We've seen how successful he can be at the top of the order in Big Bash. He's got a lot of talent and skill.