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Move over Rinku Singh, Hardik Pandya: KL Rahul quietly redefined ODI finishing as India searched for the next MS Dhoni
KL Rahul emerges as a modern equivalent to MS Dhoni in ODI chases, showcasing a stabilizing presence.
For a decade and a half, India’s ODI chases had a simple emotional equation: if MS Dhoni was still batting, the match was still under control. Not because he always finished with fireworks, but because he turned panic into a process. India have searched for that exact stabilising force ever since — not the aura, not the captaincy, not the mythology — but the practical skill of closing a chase without letting the game slip into chaos.
KL Rahul’s last few years suggest India may have found the closest modern equivalent to that role. The comparison is risky because Dhoni’s imprint is so large, but when you strip it down to the hardest test of finishing — successful ODI chases where the batter is part of the chase — the numbers don’t flatter Rahul. They validate him.
The Dhoni benchmark: surviving was the superpower
MS Dhoni’s defining statistic in winning chases wasn’t his strike-rate. It was his tendency to be there when it ended. In successful ODI chases, he played 75 innings, remained not out 47 times, and averaged 102.71 at a strike-rate of 88. Two details matter more than everything else.
- First, the scale: 75 innings in successful chases is not a phase, it’s a career-long identity.
- Second, the not-out ratio: Dhoni finished unbeaten in nearly two-thirds of those innings. That’s why the average sits in triple digits — not because he scored faster than everyone, but because he refused to give the chase a late collapse trigger.
This is what elite finishing actually is: low-error cricket under maximum leverage. Dhoni batted like a risk assessor. He didn’t just “win matches”; he reduced the probability of losing them.
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Rahul’s chase footprint: smaller sample, strikingly similar logic
KL Rahul’s successful-chase record in the same framing has the shape of a finisher, not an accumulator. In winning chases, he has 25 innings, 13 not outs, 1,000 runs, an average of 83.33, and a strike-rate of 82.64, with two hundreds and six fifties.
Put the not-out rate under the microscope: Rahul is unbeaten in 52% of his successful-chase innings. That is a closer’s signature. It means more often than not, the match ends with Rahul still at the crease — the exact mechanism that made Dhoni a cheat code in ODI pursuits.
The strike-rate being slightly lower than Dhoni’s in this specific cut is also revealing. It suggests Rahul isn’t functioning as a pure late-overs hitter in these games. He is often doing a Dhoni-like dual role: first, stabilise the chase so it doesn’t break; then, finish at the right moment without gifting wickets.
The real overlap: not style, but sequence
The superficial Dhoni comparison is about “calm”. The meaningful comparison is about sequence.
Dhoni’s best chases followed a pattern:
- absorb the damage if wickets fall early,
- keep the required rate within reach,
- take the game deep with wickets in hand,
- then close.
Rahul’s successful-chase numbers strongly imply the same sequence, even if the aesthetics are different. The two hundreds in that dataset are particularly important: centuries in successful chases are rarely late-overs cameos. They usually involve a substantial phase of responsibility — batting through a chase, managing partners, adjusting tempo, and still being there at the end.
That’s the crux: Rahul’s finishing value is not only that he can hit at the death. It’s that he can own the middle of the chase and still be alive for the end.
Where Rahul differs — and why it helps modern India
Dhoni’s chase greatness came in an era where ODI teams were still learning how to maximise the last 15 overs. Today, the game has shifted: teams attack earlier, match-ups are planned, and “safe” phases are shorter. In that environment, Rahul’s skill becomes even more valuable because he can play two gears without a visible gear-change.
He is not trying to be a one-dimensional finisher who arrives at 42 overs and swings. In many chases, he is the connector — the batter who ensures the chase doesn’t become an equation that demands miracles. That’s why the not-out rate matters as much as boundaries. In modern ODIs, wickets are the only currency that truly preserves options late.
The conclusion: KL Rahul didn’t replace Dhoni — he rebuilt the function
Dhoni remains a statistical outlier in winning chases; the numbers make that clear. But Rahul’s record in successful pursuits shows India now have a finisher who understands the original Dhoni principle: the most valuable skill in a chase is not the shot that ends it, but the discipline that prevents it from slipping before you get there.
Rahul isn’t Dhoni’s successor as a personality. He’s something more useful: a modern ODI batter who is restoring India’s most comforting chase feeling — that the ending can be managed, not survived.
