"I have never understood why the finisher's tag is given only to Nos. 5 to 7" - Gautam Gambhir says there can't be a better finisher than Virat Kohli

Gautam Gambhir has lauded Virat Kohli for playing a match-winning knock in India's World Cup 2023 clash against New Zealand and highlighted that there can't be a better finisher than him.

The Kiwis set the Men in Blue a 274-run target in Dharamsala on Sunday, October 22. Kohli then scored a 104-ball 95 to help the two-time champions register a four-wicket win with two overs to spare to move atop the points table.

During a discussion on Star Sports, Gambhir was asked about Kohli virtually finishing the game as a No. 3 batter, to which he responded:

"I have never understood why the finisher's tag is given only to Nos. 5 to 7. An opener can also be a finisher. A No. 11 can also be a finisher. This has just been created by the media."

The former India opener placed his fellow Delhiite on a high pedestal. He stated:

"There was probably no finisher 10 years ago. There can't be a better finisher than Virat Kohli because of the number of games he has won. So don't call only the Nos. 5, 6 and 7 as finishers. Whoever scores the last run is a finisher."

Gambhir added that the finisher's tag shouldn't be there at all. He concurred with Sanjay Manjrekar that Kohli should potentially be called 'Master Chaser', just like Sachin Tendulkar is called 'Master Blaster'.

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"He has won the match" - Gautam Gambhir says we shouldn't be obsessed about Virat Kohli missing a hundred

Virat Kohli is just one short of Sachin Tendulkar's record of 49 ODI centuries. [P/C: AP]

Gautam Gambhir was further asked about Virat Kohli falling just five runs short of his 49th ODI hundred, to which he replied:

"Think about how obsessed we are with a hundred that we have stopped remembering the 95-run knock. He has won the match. It doesn't matter if it was going to be the 49th or 100th hundred."

The cricketer-turned-commentator added that the modern batting great needs to be praised for the 95-run knock he played in a pressure situation. He said:

"Praise him because he won you the match. Zero to 95 is a big journey. Praise him because of the pressure under which he batted. We need to say repeatedly that the obsession with stats needs to end if India have to win the World Cup."

Kohli struck eight fours and two sixes during his innings. He was caught in the deep while trying to hit a maximum to reach his century.