A solidly-built, aggressive batsman from the country town of Colac in south-west Victoria, Aaron Finch ascended to become Australia's permanent ODI and T20I captain, leading his country to their first T20 World Cup triumph in 2021. He also made his Test debut in 2018 on the back of his white-ball form but the experiment of turning him into a Test opener only lasted five matches.

He has twice held the record for the highest score in a T20I, his career-best 172, made against Zimbabwe in 2018, surpassing his 156 than he took off England in 2013 - an innings that included 14 sixes. In 2014, Finch was named Australia's T20I captain, replacing George Bailey, but on the eve of the 2016 T20 World Cup in India the selectors decided to consolidate the captaincy of all three formats and handed the job to Steven Smith. Finch at the time was the No.1-ranked T20I batsman in the world, but found himself suddenly struggling to hold on to his place in the side. He had been an automatic selection in Australia's ODI and T20 teams, and had set the tone for their triumphant 2015 World Cup with 135 in their opening match against England at the MCG.

In 2018, amid a meltdown in Australian cricket centered around the ball-tampering scandal at Newlands, Finch found himself installed as the permanent national white-ball captain and was selected to make his Test match debut against Pakistan in the UAE despite a modest first-class record. Finch made 62 and 49 on debut in Dubai but endured a form slump in the home 2018-19 season after trying to adjust his technique to Test cricket and was dropped from the Test side after five matches.

He had made his first-class debut for Victoria aged 21 in a tour match against India in 2007 but did not play his first Sheffield Shield match until two years later. Victoria had not always viewed Finch in their preferred Sheffield Shield batting order, and nearly three years came between his second and third first-class centuries from 2011 to 2014. He made an unbeaten 288 against New Zealand in a first-class tour match in Blacktown in 2015-16, although that match was ultimately abandoned as the New Zealanders complained about the condition of the pitch.

Finch is an in-demand T20 cricketer having played for seven IPL franchises as well as Yorkshire and Surrey in England. He has also been a mainstay of the Melbourne Renegades side since the inception of the BBL and captained the Renegades to their first BBL title in 2019.
ESPNcricinfo staff