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Dhoni's amazing ability to 'finish' games.

Victor Ian

International Coach
Watching the semi final yesterday, they mentioned how Dhoni has been not out chasing 40 times for only 1 loss. That seems amazing, however I have no context to know how it compares, or if it is even a meaningful stat at all.

1) Does anyone have the ability to show how this compares with other 'finishers' such as Bevan and Hussey?

2) What do other people think of this stat? Does it mean anything? One of the commentators pointed out that it can be maintained by throwing your wicket away if you are going to lose. Not that I think Dhoni does this, but perhaps match conditions make this happen by the way. If they are too far behind (going to lose) Dhoni would be more likely to take greater and greater risks until he either get's out, or pulls of an amazing victory.

3) How is Dhoni as finishing first innings games? How do you measure that? Is it all about raising the run rate by a large amount?

I'd lover to hear everyone's thoughts on this to shed more light on the amazing cricketer Dhoni as I have always been a secret admirer of his ever since he first entered the international arena and became known to me.
 

Xuhaib

International Coach
If anything drew it out to an even more painful conclusion by not slogging early.
He always bats like this thats why I think some of his best chases include a contribution from Raina or Yuvraj. Dhoni bats normally till 45 overs then goes mental in last 5.
 

OverratedSanity

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He always bats like this thats why I think some of his best chases include a contribution from Raina or Yuvraj. Dhoni bats normally till 45 overs then goes mental in last 5.
Definitely not always. Has become more frequent recently. Prefers to take it down to the end if we lose the top order cheaply and then goes for it at the end. He finishes it off more regularly than pretty much anyone ever, but I do feel he's miscalculated and left it for too late on a few occasions.
 

Daemon

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He always bats like this thats why I think some of his best chases include a contribution from Raina or Yuvraj. Dhoni bats normally till 45 overs then goes mental in last 5.
Nah he usually only goes mental when setting targets. When he's chasing it's all about keeping the rrr within reach then hitting a few timely boundaries to make the equation a breeze.
 

OverratedSanity

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Nah he usually only goes mental when setting targets. When he's chasing it's all about keeping the rrr within reach then hitting a few timely boundaries to make the equation a breeze.
Yeah usually just coasts it. But in the last 3-4 years he's followed the approach xuhaib mentioned a few times... Generally when we've lost wickets though. Like that Sri Lanka chase I posted above.
 

OverratedSanity

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TPC rockbottomed us and killed us by throwing his elbow pads into the crowd and giving us the people's drs review.
 

Contra

Cricketer Of The Year
I think Rahane has to take a bit of criticism as well, Dhoni was around a run a ball for about his first 25 or so runs, meaning he got a partnership going but Rahane was just stuck, he didn't rotate the strike well enough when he came in. Just can't expect Dhoni to play a blinder. When India reached 150/4 at the 32nd over Dhoni was 25 (26) and Rahane was 28 (54). India needed 179 of 108 balls. You add say 15 runs to Rahane's innings at that point and subtract 15 from the total and its roughly a little over 9 and over with a batting PP. Even that would only give you an outside chance at best for victory. Dhoni literally had no support in any meaningful way, so anyone criticizing him would be doing so for not basically scoring some 120 off 60 or something. The only legit criticism for Dhoni would be to not bat ahead of Raina, but Raina was in good enough form and has been in similar pressure situations so get a partnership going as well so there's that.

Those 2 finishes v Aus and SL were amazing. He needed 12 off 4 and 15 off 5 in the final overs! Incredible. And he finished them both off with 2 balls to spare! lolol.
 
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Spark

Global Moderator
i think it's even more amazing that we thought that xavier doherty and clint mckay were death bowlers tbh
 

RossTaylorsBox

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
2) What do other people think of this stat? Does it mean anything? One of the commentators pointed out that it can be maintained by throwing your wicket away if you are going to lose. Not that I think Dhoni does this, but perhaps match conditions make this happen by the way. If they are too far behind (going to lose) Dhoni would be more likely to take greater and greater risks until he either get's out, or pulls of an amazing victory.
Reckon it's about as useful as the "runs in wins" stat. Not totally misleading, but not a definitive measure of how good a player is.
 

ankitj

Hall of Fame Member
That stat they keep showing is indeed pointless. So is average in successful chases. Or average in wins.
 

Pratters

Cricket, Lovely Cricket
Having watched a lot of Bevan and Dhoni, Bevan's analyses of the game situation was extraordinary. He would keep taking singles, twos and threes. Then, he would hit that calculated, almost, four, where it was needed. His innings didn't have much risk in them.

With Dhoni, he gets out trying to play a more aggressive shot at times. If he is there, he will win you games. However, he is not always there. With Bevan, one was certain, he will be there 9 times out of 10 and win it for you more often than not.
 

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