Smith, Finch refuse to align with Maxwell’s ‘selfish’ comments

Australia skipper Steve Smith and Aaron Finch on Friday begged to differ with teammate Glenn Maxwell’s comments on the Indian batsmen being “milestone-driven”, saying it was his personal opinion.

All-rounder Maxwell had criticised the Indian batsmen of being more concerned about their personal achievements than the team’s interest.

“The talk of Indian players being selfish was obviously Glenn’s view; that’s not my personal view,” Finch told reporters. “Virat Kohli got a 100 off 80-odd balls the other day -- there was nothing selfish about that innings. That was an extraordinary, extraordinary innings. Shikhar Dhawan got it off about 95 balls, I think. He took the game on at the start for India along with Rohit (Sharma) and got them off to an absolute flyer. Gee! There are some seriously good players in India. Virat -- 25 ODI hundreds now. That’s an unbelievable achievement,” he added.

Smith, meanwhile, said it was only natural for a batsman to slow down when he is approaching a milestone.

“I think that can be natural for anyone around the world. When you see that sort of milestone coming, in the back of your mind you might slow down a little bit. I think Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma are quality players and they’re batting beautifully and I don’t see any problem with any selfishness there,” said Smith.