"Hard to justify IPL return Aussies missing tour" says limited-overs captain Aaron Finch

Aaron Finch says that the players who have pulled out of Australia's upcoming tour of the West Indies will "find hard to justify" if they feature in the final phase of the Indian Premier League.

The ODI and T20 captain said that he is surprise to see that the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Jhye Richardson and Marcus Stoinis will not tour the Caribbean and Bangladesh.

Finch revealed that it had been a "long-term plan" for all-format stars David Warner and Pat Cummins, both among Australia's highest-paid IPL players, to miss the 10 T20s and three ODIs to be played in St Lucia, Barbados and (pending confirmation) Bangladesh in July and August.

"The other guys – I was a little bit surprised," Finch told radio station SEN WA. "I've chatted to them all – a little bit surprised but it's also understandable … but I wish that they were there."

Asked by Test legend Adam Gilchrist about those who had pulled out of Australia's international tours, Finch said: "I think they would find it hard to justify going back and playing that second half of the IPL.

"Just purely based on the workload coming up with a T20 World Cup and a huge home summer.

"It's really tough. It's a tough situation that everyone has been put in, but personally, I would find it hard to do that knowing how difficult it is and how challenging it is mentally, and on your family as well. That's what I would think."

Australian squad for West Indies and Bangladesh tour

Australia squad: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Wes Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Dan Christian, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Ashton Turner, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa. Travelling reserves: Nathan Ellils, Tanveer Sangha.