Finch wary of fast bowlers' workload ahead of World Cup

Australia's ODIs against India and Pakistan will be crucial preparation for CWC 2019 in England and Wales. However, after a busy summer, during which they hosted India and Sri Lanka for Tests, they are wary of overworking their premier fast bowlers.

Injuries have already kept Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood out of the India tour, and Finch is keen to do all he can to ensure Pat Cummins doesn't join them on the injured list, even as he ensures all of them get sufficient game time ahead of the big tournament.

"He bowled a lot throughout the Australian summer, the Indian series, and the Sri Lankan series as well," the skipper said of Cummins on Friday, 1 March, ahead of the ODIs against India. "[Resting him] will be something that will have to be managed over these 10 ODIs that are in pretty quick succession.

"And then having April with no cricket scheduled, that is going to be really important for guys like Pat to freshen up and for guys like Mitchell Starc to get some good workload in. He'll be coming off no cricket at all.

"It's going to have to be a balancing act with all the fast bowlers, because playing 10 ODIs in a month or even a bit less is uncharted territory for us as well," he added. "So there'll be a bit of mixing and matching and making sure we're managing the workload of bowlers."

Australia won the two-match Twenty20 International series for a rare limited-overs win in India, and the team sees the ODIs as "a great opportunity to keep improving". The matches also offer a chance to decide on combinations.

Finch said that Glenn Maxwell, the star of the T20Is, will bat higher than his usual No. 7 position in the ODIs, but he was less certain about who will partner him at the top of the order. The captain was wary of both the home side's batting might and their wrist-spinning duo of Kuldeep Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal, but backed the likes of Maxwell, Peter Handscomb and Alex Carey to do well against the turning ball.

He was also excited about the potential of Ashton Turner, who is waiting for his maiden cap. "Ashton Turner is one guy that is going to get his chance to make his debut in ODI cricket," Finch said. "We have seen his game smarts in domestic cricket in Australia, so really excited to see him go well in international cricket.

"He is such a talented player, he is a diverse player, he can bat in the top couple, he can bat in the middle, and his game smarts are really good. So he can manage his situations well. I think he is going to be a real important player for us and someone I'm very excited to see."