There are many different roles in cricket when it comes to batting, especially when your team has to chase runs. At that time the whole team is under pressure to chase the runs. Sometimes in such a situation even good teams fall apart while some teams shine. A team needs a great start by its openers during a run chase, then a solid middle order that takes the match to a winning position but despite this, the team needs some firepower in the end and at that time the team needs a finisher who finishes the game and makes his team win the match. There are many players around the world who have been doing the job of finishing the game for their teams like Shahid Afridi, MS Dhoni, Glenn Maxwell, AB de Villiers, Kieron Pollard, Thisara Perera, Ben Stokes, Rinku Singh. But who are the best finishers in the world of cricket so far.
Maybe Ben Stokes who played an extraordinary innings in the Headingley Test, Glenn Maxwell's miraculous innings played in Mumbai is considered the best innings in the ODI world till date, MS Dhoni's name will definitely come in this list for his unbelievable finishing many times for Indian cricket, how about Carlos Braithwaite who won the world cup by hitting 4 consecutive sixes in the 2016 T20 World Cup and Virat Kohli who played a brilliant innings of 82* against Pakistan in Melbourne. If we have to choose one among all these, who is the best finisher in the cricket world ever.
It is very difficult to choose one among them but according to the opinion of some cricket experts, Virat Kohli is considered the best finisher in the world because his statistics testify to this. India has won many matches because of Virat Kohli. He has played many innings where he stood alone for his team and in the end he also finished the match. After his debut he smashed his first international century against Sri Lanka, when India needed 317 runs. Gautam Gambhir has also scored 150 runs in that match and he gave his player of the match award to Virat. In 2012, when India had to chase 330 runs against Pakistan, Virat played his best ODI innings of 183 runs. In the Commonwealth Games in 2012, when India needed 321 runs in just 40 overs against Sri Lanka. Virat Kohli played a brilliant innings of 133* runs in just 78 balls. In this match, he thrashed Sri Lanka's leading bowler Lasith Malinga.
In 2013, when India needed 360 runs against Australia, Virat hit his fastest hundred in ODI Cricket. In this match Rohit Sharma also scored a ton and Dhawan dismissed on 95.
In the semi-finals of the 2014 T20 World Cup, Virat scored 72* runs against South Africa while chasing 176.
Then in the 2016 T20 Asia Cup, while chasing a target of 85 runs against Pakistan, India lost 3 wickets in just 8 runs, then Kohli stood in the match & scored 49*.
In the 2016 T20 World Cup, he scored 82* runs against Australia while chasing a target of 161 runs.
In the 2022 T20 World Cup, he played a remarkable innings of 82* against Pakistan, when India lost 4 wickets in just 31 runs. Before this match, questions were being raised about Virat's place in the team. His form was also not with him. But Virat showed that he is a player for the big stage. Virat showed in that match how to win a match without losing and how to win a match.
In the 2023 World Cup, when India lost 5/3 against Australia, Virat played a brilliant innings of 85 runs. During this World Cup, Virat scored a century against Bangladesh while chasing the target, the same happened with New Zealand.
In the final of the 2024 T20 World Cup, he scored 76 runs when India lost 3 early wickets for just 23 runs.
Now if we talk about Virat's Test innings, he played another best century innings of 104 against Sri Lanka when India was trailing by 122 runs. virat ‘s another knock of 236 came when India were trailing by 400 runs against England. Virat has played many great Test innings in favor of win/lose draws. Despite several defeats, the Indian team has reached a respectable cricket score because of Virat. His record is good when he's not out, with India losing only a few matches in his career when he was not out.