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The rise of the finisher!


About 15-17 years ago when the ODI format was in its budding stages, Jayasuriya and his opening partner Kaluwitharana revolutionised the way openers’ batted. Their methods were unconventional and others took time to adopt similar ways to maximise the advantage of the field restriction. Around the same period Australia was transforming into a side that would later rule for some length of time. The Australian side had good batsmen, good bowlers and good multi-dimensional players. A certain Michael Bevan in the scheme of things was exploring the value of the much underrated no. 5/6/7 batting positions, quite a revolution much like what the two Lankans had previously demonstrated.  

People started realising the importance of a batsman who could bat down the order and close games for the side. Likes of Harris, Cairns, Klusener, Heath Streak, Razzaq, and Boucher blossomed with a role similar to what Bevan was doing for Australia and people subtly realised the value of, what later was to be christened as, a ‘finisher’. The names mentioned above weren’t players who would bat out sessions in tests but neither were they mugs with the bat. Infact they were a set of players who could mix aggression, power and mind to give the respective ODI sides the extra look of perfection. There was no T20 then and hence totals that may appear mediocre now were hard to chase then, on the backdrop of playing text-book conventional cricket. Yes we had instances of path-breaking performances but there was no frequency or consistency to it. This set of players defied that pattern and gave the cricketing fraternity the dimension of the finisher to sit down & analyse.  

Over the years teams started looking at having the finisher in their line-up, the success or the lack of it became proportional to the success of the side. Modern day finishers, likes of Dhoni, Yuvraj, Collingwood, Misbah, Pollock, Hussey and others have carried the baton forward. This aspect of batting in 50-over cricket was highly under-rated and unexplored, but thanks to all the names mentioned so far, this dimension has assumed importance as good as any other batting position if not much more. With the advent of T20, the finisher’s job has become even trickier; he has to choose between logic and aggression, he has to manoeuvre between gears, and also ensure he stays right till the end. Only a few have managed to touch upon all the aspects mentioned simultaneously. The finisher need not be the most skilled batsmen in your eleven, he need not be the most aggressive, but he needs to be abreast with the situation at hand at all times and avoid panicking, or atleast not allow that to be seen by the opposition. It is easier said than done, and hence we don’t have consistency to batting at 6/7 positions; firstly they don’t get much overs to play and when they do the side is either in trouble or the situation is very demanding! 

Comparison between players across generations is not a very conclusive exercise, yet cricket is a game which throws up so many numbers for people to ponder upon! It would be interesting to know (via numbers) as to how different players have adopted to this role and how they have helped their sides win close games. Amongst the list of players who have batted at positions 5/6/7 and scored >1000 batting there (this parameter will remain consistent for the rest of the write-up); Bevan with an average of 51.25 leads the pack. Shahid Afridi has the best Strike rate with 128.95. Arjuna Ranatunga has the most 50+ scores, with 42, at these positions. Now for numbers in winning causes; for averages Dhoni has best stat with 68.15, Afridi has the strike rate of 142.47, and Yuvraj has the most 50+ knocks with 30. In terms of no. of ‘not out’ innings, Steve Waugh leads the list in both cases, with 53 & 46 innings respectively. Thus the names and their numbers, very briefly, suggest that one single name does not feature in two categories of one case, suggesting that every finisher for 50-over cricket has a different method of approaching similar situations.  

The importance of a good finisher is emphasized by the numbers of some of the successful lower-middle order bats have. S Waugh, Bevan, Harris, Hussey, Dhoni have had 23.87, 36.23, 28.88, 30.97, 29.98 (in percentages) innings of their career as not out innings respectively. And in winning cause these percentages change to 34.07, 45.23, 40.90, 40.27, and 47.22 respectively. The difference may appear phenomenal but subtly underlines the importance of the presence of your finisher to close games. Like everything, the department of lower-middle order batting has ample room for improvement and scope for innovation but the way likes of Dhoni are going, the space between perfecting the art of finishing games and lack of it is slowly diminishing! 

(Stats upto 26 Oct, 2011)

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