My role will continue to be of a finisher: Mahendra Singh Dhoni

Kolkata, 8 March। India skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni who made short work of Bangladesh with a flurry of big hits in the final of the Asia Cup on Tuesday asserted he would continue to play the role of a finisher in the upcoming World Twenty20 cricket tournament.

"I always feel good when it comes to batting, something that is very important is a decent opportunity to bat. Looking at the composition of the team, 90 percent of the time I will be playing the same kind of role that I played in the Asia Cup.

"I will get to play 20-25 deliveries unless I promote myself, but more often than not I will have to prepare myself for that. So that will be my role and responsibility more often than not. I feel good about that and ready for it," he said.

After india's triumph at the Asia Cup, Virat Kohli described Dhoni as the "best finisher in the world".

Dhoni also harped on the need for the team to be flexible.

"Everybody in the team knows about their respective role and responsibility, and when you have that adaptability factor, it helps the team in adapting to a particular situation.

"This adaptability is required in the team and we have players who played for long to have that kind of exposure," he said.

Asked if Kohli could be his successor as a finisher, Dhoni said the job was more applicable to a lower order batsman rather than Kohli who bats at the top of the order.

"For me a finisher is a lower order batsman, but it is always good to have somebody like a Virat coming in at number three and he often sets the game for the others," the iconic wicketkeeper said.

"It's for the lower middle order to finish a game, Virat is a fantastic player but the term finisher should be used for a batsman playing at number 5, 6 or 7.

"The job profile of a finisher is different, one needs to think twice before hitting a big shot because there are not many batsmen left.

"It's a complex job to say who is a finisher but if we have three Virat Kohlis, playing as the top three, one will definitely end up finishing the game," he added.

Agency