He ranks right up there in the lists for top run-scorers, top century-makers, and much else
Sampath Bandarupalli13-Jan-2024A legend of the T20 formatFinch retires as one of only ten players to aggregate 10,000-plus runs in the T20 format. His tally of 11,458 runs is the seventh-highest overall, and the second-highest among Australians, behind only David Warner’s 11,732 (and counting). Finch’s tally of eight T20 hundreds is bettered only by two men – Chris Gayle (22) and Babar Azam (10).ESPNcricinfo LtdHis 1095 fours are the fourth-highest for any batter in T20s, while only ten players have hit more sixes than his 452.Finch is also one of only three batters with multiple 150-plus individual scores in the format, alongside Gayle and Brendon McCullum. Most of his career runs came as an opener – 9697 in 304 matches. Only three batters have had more T20 runs while opening the batting – Gayle (13,469), Alex Hales (11,136) and Warner (10,531).Six years of T20 greatnessFinch had his best years in the T20 format between 2012 and 2018, where he matched Gayle’s consistency. Between October 2012 and September 2018, Finch aggregated 6229 runs across 189 matches. Only Gayle’s 7513 runs were higher than Finch’s in this period.He had an average of 37.75 in those six years, marginally behind Gayle’s 38.33, but was striking at 147.11, three runs quicker than Gayle. Finch hit six hundreds and 43 fifties in this period, a 50-plus score every 3.8 innings, once again behind only Gayle’s 54 50-plus scores (13 100s and 41 50s).Finch has two hundreds and 26 fifties across the 105 innings he played in the league and ranks second in the 50-plus scores tally, behind Lynn’s 31. He is also one of nine batters with more than one hundred in the BBL, with only Ben McDermott (3) ahead. Finch is near the top at hitting boundaries in the BBL too – his 292 fours are the second-highest and he is one of five players to hit 100-plus sixes (118).A unique trebleFinch’s success in T20 leagues was not limited to the BBL. He excelled in the T20 Blast, where he finished with 2067 runs across 57 matches with four hundreds and 11 fifties. Finch’s strike rate over there was 158.75, the highest of the 81 batters with 2000-plus runs. His average of 42.18 is the second-highest among the 81 and is only marginally behind Sam Hain’s 42.23.