MS Dhoni is often regarded as the best finisher in the history of the game. He has won countless games for India and CSK at Death, and not many come close to his heroics in the death overs. Hardik Pandya, on the other hand, has proved to be a worthy challenger. He has shown over the past few years that he has the game and the attitude to take the game deep and then finish it off with a bang.
Here's an in-depth comparison between MS Dhoni and Hardik Pandya as far as finishing the game in T20s is concerned. Let's go.
Below are the stats of both of these players in the last 4 overs of T20 games. Total runs haven't been included because MS Dhoni has played more games, but even Hardik Pandya has been present in the last 4 overs over 100 times, so we can talk about the average, strike rate, boundary and dot-ball percentage.
MS Dhoni's Numbers
- Innings: 230
- Average: 34.20
- Strike Rate: 179.96
- Running: 50%
- Dot Balls: 25.7%
- Boundaries: 24%
Hardik Pandya's Numbers
- Innings: 111
- Average: 27.01
- Strike Rate: 187.69
- Running: 44.4%
- Dot Balls: 28.3%
- Boundaries: 26.7%
The Analysis
The first thing to notice is that Hardik Pandya has the better strike rate of the two. It is almost 188 vs 180 of Dhoni. MS, on the other hand, has a better average. So, here's the thing. The fact that MS has played over 200 innings with a strike rate of 180 with an average of almost 35 vs that of Hardik's 27 in 111 games speaks volumes of how consistently destructive Dhoni has been at death.
He plays around 3 per cent fewer dot balls than Hardik Pandya and runs around 6 per cent more than him. His boundary per cent is 2 per cent less than Pandya, but he makes up for it with his running between the wickets.
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The Verdict
Hardik has played almost 100 innings less than MS Dhoni, and by the way he has been churning out performances, it looks like he will eventually catch up with Dhoni.
Is he a worthy successor? Sure he is. Numbers don't lie.
