Former India cricketer Kris Srikkanth expressed that players Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, and Hardik Pandya are actual finishers. He termed wicket-keeper batter Dinesh Karthik as a “fine finisher”. Dinesh has made a remarkable comeback to the Indian T20I squad after his batting exploits in the Indian Premier League 2022 season.
This year, the right-handed batter has played 15 T20Is so far, scoring 192 runs at an average of 21.33 and a strike rate of 133.33. Batting lower down the order, he has played several crucial knocks for India. However, despite his brilliant performance, Dinesh Karthik might not be in the starting XI for India in the Asia Cup and in the T20 World Cup 2022. While the Indian cricketer is widely seen as a finisher by some, Kris Srikkanth has expressed his disagreement.
In a discussion on Star Sports, former India cricketer Kris Srikkanth expressed his thoughts on the role of a finisher. He said that a finisher is someone who can walk into the middle in between the 8th and the 12th over and stay there till the final over and win the match for the team.
“What do you mean by a finisher? In my book, the finisher is the guy who can take the batting from the 8th or 12th over and go on till the 20th over, and win the match for India. He starts from the 8th or the 6th over, but where is the good finisher? KL Rahul is a good finisher, and Rohit Sharma is a good finisher. They go opening by the way,” Srikkanth said on Star Sports.
It's time to finish the game, who would you pick? 🤔
Watch @KrisSrikkanth & @JockMore debate who are the best finishers for #TeamIndia and have your say 👇.#AsiaCup #BelieveInBlue pic.twitter.com/eBgGVoxzWf
— Star Sports (@StarSportsIndia) August 9, 2022
Can’t say that you bat the last 5 overs, so you’re a finisher: Kris Srikkanth
Kris Srikkanth further reasoned that one cannot be called a finisher, only because the batter bats in the last five overs. He added that players like Suryakumar Yadav, Rishabh Pant, and Hardik Pandya are actual finishers, while Dinesh Karthik is a “fine finisher”. Kris Srikkanth also expressed that he would pick Dinesh Karthik in his Indian T20I team for the upcoming mega-event. He said,
“I just can’t say that you bat the last 5 overs and say he’s a finisher. Would like to term Dinesh Karthik, he definitely finds a place in my team too. I would call Dinesh Karthik a fine finisher but actual finishers are guys like Suryakumar Yadav. He is a brilliant finisher. You have Rishabh Pant, who is a brilliant finisher. You have Hardik Pandya, who is a brilliant finisher too. I think I would like to clarify that a finisher is a guy who takes the team from the 8th over and goes on till the 20th over.”
Dinesh Karthik is part of India’s 15-member squad for the upcoming Asia Cup 2022. Team India will kick off their campaign against arch-rivals Pakistan on August 28 at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.
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