stevewittry
Tape Ball Regular
- Joined
- Mar 23, 2007
- Runs
- 567
A critical component of shorter formats has been the finishers. They are the ones responsible for taking the game deep, looking for the right opportunity to seize the initiative and strike. There has been some great names who've played this role in the past - Bevan, Klusener, Hussey, Dhoni who've played some great knocks and pulled their team from some tricky situations to see their sides home.
One thing that has been common between these players is that not always their role has been to hit from ball one. They have been part of tricky run chases wherein they have come in at a situation where they were 4 or 5 with nothing on the board and got their teams to victory/ respectable situations. Not always they had to come in with few overs to spare and had the license to go hell for leather. They had to do the difficult task of seeing through difficult situations, respect the conditions, have the ability to see off difficult spells, and then strike once the situation demands.
The so called modern day finishers as I see it are one dimensional players. Take the example of Asif Ali and Dinesh Karthik from today's game. They are the designated finishers for their sides. But their teams do not have the confidence in them to play the roles which a Bevan or MSD did in the past. They are considered good enough to only play last 4 overs or play max 10-20 balls. To the extent that just to get them in their comfort zones, the lower order players or tail enders such as Nawaz or Shahdab or Axar are promoted ahead to make sure that they don't make appearance before its the onset of last 10-15 balls. Is this what a finisher is meant to do ? Is it not appropriate to play an all rounder instead of having a so called finisher who does not have any other skill set other than batting 10-15 balls. Is it not worthwhile to play an extra bowler ?
One thing that has been common between these players is that not always their role has been to hit from ball one. They have been part of tricky run chases wherein they have come in at a situation where they were 4 or 5 with nothing on the board and got their teams to victory/ respectable situations. Not always they had to come in with few overs to spare and had the license to go hell for leather. They had to do the difficult task of seeing through difficult situations, respect the conditions, have the ability to see off difficult spells, and then strike once the situation demands.
The so called modern day finishers as I see it are one dimensional players. Take the example of Asif Ali and Dinesh Karthik from today's game. They are the designated finishers for their sides. But their teams do not have the confidence in them to play the roles which a Bevan or MSD did in the past. They are considered good enough to only play last 4 overs or play max 10-20 balls. To the extent that just to get them in their comfort zones, the lower order players or tail enders such as Nawaz or Shahdab or Axar are promoted ahead to make sure that they don't make appearance before its the onset of last 10-15 balls. Is this what a finisher is meant to do ? Is it not appropriate to play an all rounder instead of having a so called finisher who does not have any other skill set other than batting 10-15 balls. Is it not worthwhile to play an extra bowler ?
