Mahendra Singh Dhoni squeezed nostalgia out of the IPL fans with his finishing skills in Chennai Super Kings’ lastover win over Lucknow Super Giants on Monday.
Not just fans, even former cricketers and pundits had a high in seeing the Dhoni of old after a long, long time. “Dhoni finish nahi finisher hai.. picture abhi baaki hai doston,” former India player Mohammed Kaif exclaimed on X.
Fair enough, it was, after all, Dhoni’s first Player of the Match award in six years.
Whether Dhoni, the finisher, has shaken off the rust for good will be proven by how the 43-year-old does in the upcoming fixtures of CSK; but his unbeaten 26 off 11 balls in Lucknow on Monday tickled us with an intriguing question... Where have the finishers gone in IPL?
Going by the records so far this season, what Dhoni did on Monday can at best be called an exception. Why? Because the only other mentionable instance so far in IPL 2025 when someone successfully guided his team through a tense chase in the closing overs was when a young Ashutosh Sharma slammed a 66 not out off 31 balls to take Delhi Capitals past a 210- run target against Lucknow Super Giants.
But Ashutosh’s effort came early in the tournament, the fourth match of the season to be precise, and Dhoni’s masterclass came in the 30th game of IPL 2025. In between, some of the renowned finishers of contemporary cricket who are currently plying their trade in the IPL have been conspicuous in their absence.
In the last seven-odd days of IPL cricket, thrice teams have suffered for not being able to kill off chases even when they had a good chance to do so. Besides applause for the rival bowlers who must have done their job with discipline to defend their team totals, much of the blame should also be put on the finishers for failing to navigate chases in the death overs.
Last Tuesday at Eden Gardens, the Kolkata Knight Riders’ top four batted promisingly, raising hopes of a successful chase of a 239-run target against the Super Giants. But in the end, they fell short by 4 runs, despite having multiple finishers on their roster. Rinku Singh tried his best with 38 not out off 15 balls, but the mighty Andre Russell was a major disappointment, managing just 7 runs.
On the same day, CSK could have overhauled a 220- run target against Punjab Kings with better application from their finishers. But neither Dhoni (27) nor Shivam Dube (42) could stick around till the end to take their team home. As a result, CSK lost by 18 runs.
But more striking was Delhi Capitals’ 12-run loss against the Mumbai Indians on Sunday. Well on course to chase down a 206-run target after comeback-man Karun Nair’s breathtakingly stylish 89 off 40 balls, Delhi messed up things in the end. This time, Ashutosh (17) could not wield his bat like a magic wand. South African Tristan Stubbs, who has earned quite a reputation internationally for being a big-hitter and a finisher, made only 1 when his team needed him.
One can dig up more such examples going beyond the gone-by week in this edition of the IPL which show uncharacteristically muted responses from finishers whose high-octane game usually screams for attention. Be it Mumbai’s Hardik Pandya or Shimron Hetmyer of the Rajasthan Royals, the finishers have mostly not turned up when they were needed.
Then there have been some who have not been needed at all. Take the case of Royal Challengers Bengaluru’s Tim David, who is simply happy that his team’s top order has been doing a great job. In four innings, the Australian has faced only 47 balls.
The finishers have been somewhat rendered surplus because of the rich run-scoring form of the top-order batters. They are also staying at the wicket longer and so the batters in the lower middle-order are not getting enough time at the crease to spread their wings. Nicholas Pooran, B. Sai Sudharsan, Mitchell Marsh and Virat Kohli, four of the top five run scorers so far this season, have consumed more than 170 balls each.
But is it really an issue? Or are we overthinking? Cricket is often over-analysed, applause and criticism overlap each other.
No, we are not necessarily talking about Dhoni.