India's Shikhar Dhawan is bowled by England's Chris Woakes during the international T20 cricket match at Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham
India's Shikhar Dhawan is bowled by England's Chris Woakes during the international T20 cricket match at Edgbaston cricket ground in Birmingham September 7, 2014. REUTERS/Philip Brown

Aaron Finch was named as the new Twenty20 captain for Australia. He took the responsibility from George Bailey.

The 27-year-old had another feather to his cricketing crown of glory as the Victorian was selected to be the next T20 captain to lead Team Australia. Bailey earlier stepped down as he intended to spend more time on playing first-class cricket. The first T20 match for Finch as the Australian captain will take place in October when he will lead his men against Pakistan. There will be one T20 match, a couple of test matches and three ODIs in the series which is going to take place in United Arab Emirates.

Australia is presently ranked no. 5 at the Reliance ICC T20I Ranking. The first three teams on the ranking table are from Asia. Sri Lanka, the 2014 ICC World Twenty20 champion, is the top-ranked team while the runner-up of the 2014 ICC World Twenty20, India, is at the no. 2 position. Pakistan is at the third position on the table. Australia's best performance at the ICC World Twenty20 came in 2010 when it became the runner-up in the tournament.

According to national selector Rod Marsh, Finch deserves the opportunity to be the national captain as he is presently the number-one ranked batsman in T20 Internationals. However, according to the official website of ICC, the top-ranked T20I batsman is India's Virat Kohli with 897 points. Finch is only 5 points behind Kohli and is placed at the no. 2 position. The ranks are based on the players' performance until Sunday, Sept 7.

"He has gained quality leadership experience through his role as captain of the Melbourne Renegades and the Pune Warriors. He also captained Australia A against the England Lions last year and excelled when given that chance," Marsh said, "When George indicated that he was stepping down from the position, we thought Aaron was the obvious choice to succeed him. We know he will relish the opportunity to lead his country."

Marsh said that Finch was "the obvious choice" as the captain of the team after Bailey had announced his decision to step down.

Contact the writer: s.mukhopadhyay@ibtimes.com.au