Over the better part of the last decade, we have been fed the theory that MS Dhoni is the greatest finisher in white-ball cricket. There’s been great justification to it as well: several times Dhoni has aced run-chases both for India and for his IPL franchises (CSK and RPSG).
In T20Is, though, Dhoni has failed to do so in the last over when the ask has been more than 7 runs! Yes, this is quite an interesting, and shocking bit of trivia that we have come across recently.
And while many would argue that Dhoni completed off chases in T20Is before the last over itself, or left very little to require in the last 6 balls, a Twitter user, by the handle of @finehaihum, has revealed a striking stat – a stat that not only will traumatise the die-hard Dhoni fans, but also puts Dinesh Karthik at a higher pedestal as a finisher.
Dinesh Karthik finished off the run-chase with apparent ease against Australia in the second T20I, in Nagpur. When 9 runs were needed off the last over, Karthik smashed Daniel Sams for a 6 and 4 to seal the match and level the series.
This was the second time that Dinesh Karthik has scored more than 7 runs to win a T20I for India; you may not remember the previous occasion when DK did that: back in 2006, India’s first-ever T20I, vs South Africa, when India needed 9 runs in the last over, and DK scored 8 of those to win the game with one ball left. (If you were wondering about the Nidahas Trophy final vs Bangladesh, Karthik scored 7 runs in that last over.)
This Twitter user claimed that while Dinesh Karthik has scored more than 7 runs in the last over twice to win a T20I for India, MS Dhoni, the fan-proclaimed greatest finisher, has never done so in a number of attempts.
“Scoring more than 7 runs to win t20I in last over
Dhoni : 0 out of 7
DK : 2 out of 3”
Here, check out the tweet and the stat that hails Dinesh Karthik as a more successful last over finisher in T20Is than MS Dhoni:
Scoring more than 7 runs to win t20I in last over
Dhoni : 0 out of 7
DK : 2 out of 3 pic.twitter.com/RRWN1cH4XE— . (@finehaihum) September 23, 2022
After winning the Nagpur match, this is what Dinesh Karthik said: “There was not too much talk. Rohit [non-striker] was trying to tell me this is what the bowler would do, I had my plans. As a middle order batter it is about execution. It feels good to hit the winning runs. Ro with the bat and Axar with the ball stood out, good to see Bumrah back. We need to take the momentum forward. 1-1 is a good score. You want to play those crunch games.”
