Who is ODI's best finisher?

[subshakerz]

Inspired slightly by the Viv vs AB thread, I wanted to get opinions on the best ODI finisher or closer of all-time.

First option is Michael Bevan. He was a pioneer who introduced this into ODI as a phenomenon. He played against some high quality attacks albeit at a time when big hitting was not the norm.

Then there is MS Dhoni who had the advantage of an extra gear and power to score those big shots when necessary, though he rarely did so overseas and more on batting friendly surfaces.

Last I can think of is Michael Hussey who in a way was an amalgam of the previous two and a superb player in his own right.

Any thoughts?

 

[StephenZA]

Klusener was pretty good....

 

[Shri]

Inspired slightly by the Viv vs AB thread, I wanted to get opinions on the best ODI finisher or closer of all-time.

First option is Michael Bevan. He was a pioneer who introduced this into ODI as a phenomenon. He played against some high quality attacks albeit at a time when big hitting was not the norm.

Then there is MS Dhoni who had the advantage of an extra gear and power to score those big shots when necessary, though he rarely did so overseas and more on batting friendly surfaces.

Last I can think of is Michael Hussey who in a way was an amalgam of the previous two and a superb player in his own right.

Any thoughts?

There haven't been anything but batting friendly pitches in ODI cricket in over a decade or more. But yeah, Kohli will retire as the best ODI finisher of all time and Yuvraj is another one who should be in contention as a Tier 2 finisher. Kaif was very briefly good too.

 

[Kirkut]

Dhoni only.

 

[OverratedSanity]

Hussey was pretty awesome... No Bevan in chases, but great chaser in his own right and had the hitting power Bevan lacked (relatively) for finishing a first innings.

Kohli probably the best though. The fact that he's considered a finisher despite being a top order batsman is nuts.

 

[anil1405]

P.S: At 1:55 is the coolest six i've ever seen someone hit.

 

[honestbharani]

Dhoni
Bevan
Kohli
Klusener
Hussey

 

[mackembhoy]

Surely the player with the most not outs and highest average?

 

[mr_mister]

I'm gonna say the original was the best, Bevan. Watched a best of Bevan highlights on youtube recently and literally all his ODI hundreds were scored in back to the wall situations it seems

he was bloody great

 

[cnerd123]

All good names mentioned so far.

Some other good finishers:

Aarvinda de Silva
Inzamam
Symonds
Ajay Jadeja
Miandad
Misbah

 

[tobe_ornot2]

All good names mentioned so far.

Some other good finishers:

Aarvinda de Silva
Inzamam
Symonds
Ajay Jadeja
Miandad
Misbah

That is a solid list but I'm not sure if any of those names are better than mike Hussey, who in my opinion was the complete finisher across 2 formats (ODIs and T20s). His innings against Pakistan in the world t20 semi may be the single greatest t20 innings of all time andi t came against probably the best t20 bowling line up around with the best offy of his generation.

That does not mean I believe good ol' Mike was a better batsman than the guys you mentioned, just that he was a better finisher.

 

[harsh.ag]

Ajay Jadeja sucked at it.

 

[cnerd123]

That is a solid list but I'm not sure if any of those names are better than mike Hussey, who in my opinion was the complete finisher across 2 formats (ODIs and T20s). His innings against Pakistan in the world t20 semi may be the single greatest t20 innings of all time andi t came against probably the best t20 bowling line up around with the best offy of his generation.

That does not mean I believe good ol' Mike was a better batsman than the guys you mentioned, just that he was a better finisher.

Yea I agree, I was just naming a second-tier of sort to all the names already mentioned.

Ajay Jadeja sucked at it.

Really? Admittedly my memories of 1990s cricket are foggy at best. Heavily influenced by the selected replays shown on Ten Sports that I watched as a kid. What makes you say he sucked at it

 

[harsh.ag]

Really? Admittedly my memories of 1990s cricket are foggy at best. Heavily influenced by the selected replays shown on Ten Sports that I watched as a kid. What makes you say he sucked at it

He was good at running between the wickets. That's all really. Other than that, nothing which would make him stand out. India were just so hard up at the time and he gave the fans a lot of hope during chases but most of the times, it came to naught.

 

[Black_Warrior]

Faulkner

 

[srbhkshk]

Some of the names that are being missed -

Australia :
Steve Waugh (Poorer version of Bevan/Hussey, but did fine for his times.)
England :
Morgan ( Has done well in chasing, his poor form in the recent past may lead to people overlooking that.)
South Africa :
Jonty Rhodes (Could do things other than fielding in case people didn't know)
SL :
Mathews (Is their best batsman in everything :P )
Ranatunga (Slow but dependable)
India:
Raina (Shame on the Indians here for forgetting him, He wasn't always a hopeless fatty)
NZ
McMillan/Cairns (In a way, quite similar, Cairns won NZ the Champions trophy in 2000 almost all by himself)

 

[Kirkut]

Rainman Raina was the go to player when we needed 100 runs in last 10 overs.

 

[Pratters]

Dhoni isn't that strong outside Asia.

Bevan is an interesting one. He hit very few sixes over his career. Bharani made a point a year or so back here that in today's era, Bevan would be required to score at higher rates and couldn't match up to some one like MSD. It's an interesting argument. However, given the number of chases Bevan was part of, he is the master of chasing. Non compare.

I love Klusener too for chasing.

 

[honestbharani]

Ajay Jadeja sucked at it.

Usually depends on who has paid him more.

 

[tobe_ornot2]

It's also interetsing that Razzaq and Afridi don't get a mention. The former in particular had one of THE ODI innings against England a few years back and was a great, pure striker of the ball. In t erms of Afridi, he is probably more noted for his finishing in t20s (Can't have won the world t20 without him) BUT he did it a fair few times in ODIs too.

Not quite Hussey level but pretty good.