Bevan or Dhoni? Decoding the greatest ODI finisher of all time

A never ending debate

For a brief period during the second ODI between India and Bangladesh, there were glimpses of the MS Dhoni we all knew – a man who would walk into face trouble head on, steer the ship and then steal the match right under the nose of the opponents, while they just wait and watch. He was foxed though, by a 19-year-old bowler only in his second game.

The helicopter didn’t make any appearance and the pressure got to the man whose nerves are probably made of the same material as Wolverine’s in X-Men. In spite of that failed attempt to rescue India, Dhoni still is at the end of the day, Dhoni. The jury is out on whether he is the greatest ODI finisher of all time. And only one man, actually competes with him, gets anywhere close at the moment.

Years later, maybe Virat Kohli will take that spot since he has time on his side. Maybe, AB de Villiers will, even though he doesn’t have time on his side. But, Dhoni and Michael Bevan are probably the only two players in the history of cricket who have played that very specific, niche role called ‘finisher’ for a substantial length of time and while doing so have pulled stunning victories from the jaws of defeat.

Stats (Courtesy – Some queries fired on Cricinfo)

Overall

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0	4s	6s
MG Bevan (Aus)	1994-2004	232	196	67	6912	108*	53.58	9320	74.16	6	46	5	450	21
MS Dhoni (India)	2004-2015	264*	229	66	8504	183*	52.17	9538	89.15	9	58	7	661	183

Only two other men have more not outs than these two and both are bowlers who can easily be ruled out from the batting charts and discussions for convenience (Although Shaun Pollock and Chaminda Vaas would disagree). Interestingly, Dhoni has the most runs in unbeaten innings, which tells quite a lot about the impact he has on a game that he takes charge of. Both men have done it in the big games, Bevan doing it in the 2003 World Cup, Dhoni doing it in the 2011 World Cup final, along with a host of other games of varying importance.

In chases

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0
MS Dhoni (India)	2004-2015	143	112	40	3794	183*	52.69	4562	83.16	2	27	3
MG Bevan (Aus)	1994-2004	112	81	30	2882	107	56.5	4263	67.6	3	19	2

In wins (Batting first or second)

Player	Span	Mat	Inns	NO	Runs	HS	Ave	BF	SR	100	50	0
MG Bevan (Aus)	1994-2004	155	122	53	4502	107	65.24	5951	75.65	5	32	4
MS Dhoni (India)	2004-2015	146	122	53	5054	183*	73.24	5134	98.44	6	34	4

How do you pick a great finisher?

There are innumerable attributes that could be found in a world-class finisher. Yet, some are more important than others and you need not look beyond Dhoni and Bevan’s numbers to summarize those attributes. Here are a few:

1. High average potentially suggesting more runs, more unbeaten innings and hence more number of occasions when the individual saw the team through right till the end
2. High number of not outs
3. High number of not outs in the second innings, given that chases always include more pressure
4. Strike rate in ODIs as your impact in the shorter formats of the game is directly proportional to your strike-rate especially if your average is healthy
5. Ability to score at a faster rate since you have to score quick runs in tough situations.
6. Valuable runs in important knocks in big games

Bevan was the trendsetter

The better hitter

To be fair to Bevan, he was from a different generation of cricketers than Dhoni’s. That 10-year gap between the two players witnessed a massive change in the way ODIs were approached – power-plays, two white balls, bigger bats, innovation in shot making and batting friendly pitches. Dhoni’s career pretty much started when Bevan’s ended. But, in spite of the gap the strike-rate difference is telling.

15 points is quite a gap and it shows how it can influence the stats too. Having faced a comparable number of balls, Dhoni has nearly 1500 runs more than Bevan. That becomes an important statistic when you factor in their average and number of not-outs which is similar. In other words, Dhoni gives you the same number of runs per dismissal as Bevan but at a much faster rate.

Even if the time gap is factored in, there wouldn’t be more than an average increase of ten points in the strike-rate of batsmen, which still means Dhoni is way ahead. Dhoni’s 183 sixes is way ahead of Bevan’s 21 and Dhoni has hit 200 more fours than Bevan who was more an accumulator of runs, with great expertise at playing the angles.

Lasting till the end in victories

Dhoni has 53 not-outs when his team won, same as Bevan’s. That means, by the time Dhoni hangs up his boots, he will surely be a few ahead. Dhoni’s strike-rate in those innings is close to 25 points more than Bevan’s although the rest of the numbers are more or less comparable.

While that looks really close, a further breakdown would show that Dhoni has been unbeaten on 38 occasions in successful chases whereas Bevan has been unbeaten only on 25 occasions. Dhoni is 4th on the list of most runs in successful chases. His strike rate of 94.7 in these games is way ahead of Bevan’s 68. He has two centuries and 10 half-centuries whereas the Aussie great has one century and eight half-centuries.

Interestingly, Bevan has been surpassed by more than a dozen batsmen when it comes to stats in successful run-chases. But that is not all. While he has won some crucial games for Australia from unthinkable positions, Dhoni’s contribution goes beyond just stats. He brought about a psychological change in the way Indians, players and audiences think.

India wasn’t known for its chasing prowess until Dhoni launched himself. From being poor chasers, India went on to become one of the best in world cricket in this aspect. The Indian skipper managed that while donning multiple hats, as skipper and wicket-keeper across three formats, the kind of pressure and taxing schedules very few players have endured in the history of the game.

The greatest

Bevan gets points as a trendsetter, as a trailblazer of sorts. He was officially the first ‘finisher’ a role that wasn’t discussed at length until he showed the value of such a player, time and time again. Both are amazing at running between the wickets, assessing risk, assessing the situation and playing with the lower middle order and lower order batsmen. But, if history had to pick one amongst the two, it would be certainly Dhoni for three important reasons:

1. He isn’t finished and his stats are already better than that of Bevan’s.
2. He has played with equal élan higher up the order and lower down, something Bevan couldn’t do with any consistency.
3. He didn’t have the morale boosting assurance of the world’s best bowling attack which meant there was always extra pressure on him as a batsman.

While we witness the twilight of Dhoni’s career, hoping for a last hurrah and while Bevan was legendary when it came to doing what he did in ODIs, if there was only one spot in a World XI for a finisher, there is very little doubt around who it would be!