Mumbai, July 12: Former captain and chairman of selectors Dilip Vengsarkar said that he has not witnessed a better finisher than Mahendra Singh Dhoni, after seeing the Indian captain guide his team to a victory over Sri Lanka in the tri-series final on Thursday.
“It was a great fight-back from the young Indian brigade after losing initial games. Dhoni has a great temperament and, by far, he's the best finisher I have ever seen. He just doesn't get flustered at any stage of the game,” Vengsarkar told PTI during an interaction on Friday.
He was referring to India's triumph in the tournament after losing their first two round-robin matches against Lanka and hosts West Indies in the earlier part of the tournament, and Dhoni's match-winning unbeaten knock which guided India to victory by one wicket from a precarious situation in the low-scoring tri-series final at the Queen's Park Oval.
In 226 ODIs, Dhoni has amassed over 7,300 runs with 8 centuries and 48 half centuries, but his clear-cut ability as a great finisher is revealed by the fact that he has remained unbeaten once in every four innings.
Teammate Rohit Sharma, who anchored the innings in Thursday's win with a responsible and fighting 58 at the top of the order, put it aptly.
“Dhoni has done it over and over for us, so we were all positive in the dressing room. We've seen him doing it for many years now. This wasn't any surprise.”
