Finishers’ impact grows as final beckons

When it comes to death-over bowling, the 2022 Asia Cup has seen pretty sub-par performances from a few bowlers. Pakistan's Harris Rauf and India's Arshdeep Singh have been the most reliable names in the tournament, but in general, runs have been leaked and the biggest boost it has given is to batters who played the role of finisher in the T20 event.

Mohammad Nawaz, Khushdil Shah and Asif Ali, Sri Lanka's Bhanuka Rajapaksa and Dasun Shanaka, India's Hardik Pandya, Suryakumar Yadav and even Bangladesh's Mosaddek Hossain are amongst batters with the highest strike-rate this tournament and their knocks have had an impact that led to their sides taking control in crucial stages of the game.

Add to that the fact that batting second has been the tried and tested methodology of winning games this tournament, the finisher's role has been even more prominent in Dubai and Sharjah.

Take into consideration that Bangladesh's pace duo of Mohammad Saifuddin and Mustafizur Rahman consistently failed to put in yorkers and would often bank on length deliveries.

That allowed batters like Afghanistan's Najibullah Zadran to play a shot best described as akin to a back-handed badminton slap.

He told The Daily Star that it was a shot he had never tried before, so one can get a pretty clear idea of the carnage at the death in this tournament.

Rajapaksa and Shanaka would take advantage of Mustafizur's lack of yorkers at the death to win a crucial group stage game and knock Bangladesh out of the tournament.

India's Virat Kohli's returned to his classy best on Thursday as he recorded his first-ever T20 ton during a game that saw Afghan bowlers like Fazalhaq Farooqi and Fareed Ahmad fail to find the right length at the death.

Amongst batters with at least 20 deliveries faced, Mosaddek (180), Asif (178.26), Najibullah (171.42) and Nawaj (167.8) make up the top four with the highest strike-rates.

Rajapaksa and Shanaka have 150 and 144 and have gotten important runs while Shadab Khan was one of Pakistan's key weapons against Afghanistan in the Super Four stage.

The likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi or Mohammad Wasim were missed by Pakistan while India had Hardik Pandya, a good finisher with the bat but a part-time bowler at the death.

Sri Lanka's Lahiru Kumara and Dushmantha Chameera were missing in action too and that saw the finishers' role make further impact.

In the final, the battle of landing yorkers and the finishers' impact could once again be the difference maker.