Aaron Finch, who made a comeback to the ODI squad for the New Zealand series only to lead the team after an injury to Matthew Wade, has been appointed as the skipper for the three T20I series against Sri Lanka, to be played from February 17. Captaincy to Finch does not come as a surprise as most of the senior Australian players will miss the series, as they’ll on sub-continent duty to play for the four-Test series against India, which gives an opportunity to youngsters to prove their mettle in the shortest format of the game.

Finch has earlier led Australia in six T20Is from 2014 to 2016 with his last series as captain coming against India in January 2016. He was later replaced by Steven Smith for the T20 World Cup played in India. Finch led Melbourne Stars in the Big Bash League as well.

“There’s not many bigger names in world cricket than that handful, especially in T20 cricket, there’s so much experience there,” Finch said upon his appointment

“But you can’t dwell on that. I think it’s a fantastic opportunity for guys who have performed well in the Big Bash to keep pressing their claims for other formats as well.

“When you look at the guys who have performed well (for Australia recently) – the younger guys in particular – a lot of it has been through the opportunity of other people being injured, and they’ve come in and done exceptionally well.

“So I think that while there are some world-beaters missing out, there are some extraordinary young players around the country who will now get an opportunity, and that’s only a good thing for Australian cricket – to keep giving these guys exposure at the highest level,” he added.

The first match of the three T20I series will be played in Melbourne before both teams fly to Victoria and Adelaide to play the second and third T20I respectively.