IPL 2019: Possible finishers for each franchise

Will these players be able to don the role of a finisher for their respective franchise.

The IPL Auction this year was just a one-day affair, as most of the franchises had retained a majority of its core players from the last edition, and released or traded just a selected set of players.

Among the players that were in the auction this year, the Indian duo of Jaydev Unadkat and Varun Chakravarthy turned out to be costliest buys, as both of them very bought for a huge amount of Rs. 8.4 crores by Rajasthan Royals and Kings XI Punjab respectively.

Now, with the IPL Auctions done and dusted, each franchise will look to start preparing the possible strategies which might help them to the IPL trophy this year.

As we have seen in every edition of IPL, the matches more often than not go down till the last over, and hence the need of a finisher becomes very important for a particular franchise, in order to take them over the finishing line.

Hence, in this article we will look at 8 players who can possibly play the role of a finisher for their respective franchises in IPL 2019:

#8 Chris Morris (Delhi Capitals)

As always, the Delhi Capitals have assembled a very strong team consisting of the likes of Prithvi Shaw, Colin Munro, Rishabh Pant, Shreyas Iyer, Colin Ingram, Chris Morris, Kagiso Rabada etc. Hence, it will be interesting to see if Delhi Capitals finally manage to put up a good show in IPL 2019 or not.

The one player, who could play a huge role behind Delhi Capitals' success in the upcoming edition of IPL and also take up the mantle of a finisher for Delhi could be the South African all-rounder Morris.

One of the major reasons why Delhi Capitals failed to qualify for the playoffs in last three editions of IPL despite having one of the best teams, was mainly because of Delhi Capitals team management's reluctance to use Morris' abilities as a finisher, due to which Delhi Capitals lost many close games.

Hence, if Delhi Capitals are really serious about winning the IPL 2018, then they need the best use Morris' abilities as a finisher and have him face as many balls as possible.

Overall IPL batting stats of Chris Morris:

Matches - 56 | Runs - 485 | SR - 166.66 | HS - 82*

#7 Sarfaraz Khan (Kings XI Punjab)

Although, I personally wanted to mention David Miller as a possible finisher for Kings XI Punjab, but considering that 3 out of the 4 overseas slots in Punjab's playing XI are most possibly going be occupied by Chris Gayle, Andrew Tye, Mujeeb ur Rahman and the fourth slot being a toss-up between either David Miller, Nicolas Pooran or Sam Curran. Therefore, I have decided to go with young and talented Sarfaraz Khan as a possible finisher for Kings XI Punjab.

Coming to Sarfaraz Khan, who was once a blue-eyed boy of Indian skipper Virat Kohli, Sarfaraz was released by his former franchise RCB after a poor performance with the bat in the last season and thereby got picked by Kings XI Punjab in the IPL Auction this year.

Despite putting up unimpressive performances in the previous edition of IPL, Kings XI Punjab will be looking at Sarfaraz Khan to don the role of a finisher for them, as Sarfaraz is capable of being a good finisher as seen by his exploits for RCB in 2015 and 2016 edition of IPL and also in the U-19 World Cup 2016.

Overall IPL batting stats of Sarfaraz Khan:

Matches - 25 | Runs - 228 | SR - 159.44 | HS - 45*

#6 Marcus Stoinis (Royal Challengers Bangalore)

One of the main reason behind Royal Challengers Bangalore disappointing performance last season was due to lack of quality finisher in their squad, as their experiment with Indian duo of Mandeep Singh and Sarfaraz Khan as finishers, failed badly.

This year RCB have tried to rectify their mistake from last season by signing Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis from Kings XI Punjab in exchange of Mandeep Singh just a few days before the IPL Auction 2019.

Although Marcus Stoinis' performances in IPL so far have not been along the expected lines, but still the Royal Challengers Bangalore's team management would bank on Stoinis to play the finisher's role for them, as Stoinis has been playing the role of a finisher consistently for Australia in ODI and T20 formats from past two years.

Overall IPL batting stats of Marcus Stoinis:

Matches - 19 | Runs - 262 | SR - 125.96 | HS - 52

#5 Krunal Pandya (Mumbai Indians)

Three-time champions Mumbai Indians had a disappointing IPL campaign last season, as they failed to qualify for the playoffs and thereby would look to bounce back this time around with a good performance in IPL 2019.

The Mumbai Indians currently have a balanced squad and quality finishers like Kieron Pollard, Yuvraj Singh and Pandya brothers in their line up. But considering both Pollard and Yuvraj are past their prime and Hardik Pandya well known for his inconsistency. Therefore, I am expecting Krunal Pandya to don the mantle of a finisher for Mumbai Indians.

The elder of the Pandya brother, Krunal has successfully played the role of a finisher for Mumbai franchise before, and was the main reason behind Mumbai Indians winning the IPL 2017 trophy, as Krunal's match-winning innings of 47 runs helped Mumbai Indians defeat Rising Pune Supergiants by a narrow margin of 1 run in the finals of IPL 2017.

Therefore, Mumbai Indians team management will look forward for Krunal Pandya to don the role of a finisher for them in IPL 2019.

Overall IPL batting stats of Krunal Pandya:

Matches - 39 | Runs - 708 | SR - 153.91 | HS - 86

#4 Krishnappa Gowtham (Rajasthan Royals)

Rajasthan Royals are one of the inconsistent teams in the IPL. Despite winning the IPL Trophy in the inaugural edition, Rajasthan Royals have qualified for the playoffs only twice, since winning the inaugural edition of IPL.

In the last edition of IPL, Rajasthan Royals had a fairly decent campaign as they qualified for playoffs and ended up finishing fourth. One of the main reasons, behind Rajasthan's good IPL campaign last time around, was mainly because they unearthed a quality finisher in the name of Krishnappa Gowtham when their expected finisher and big foreign signing Ben Stokes flopped badly in the last season.

Karnataka lad Gowtham won many matches with the bat for Rajasthan Royals last season and hence will be expected to play the role of a finisher for Rajasthan Royals in IPL 2019 too.

Overall IPL batting stats of Krishnappa Gowtham:

Matches - 15 | Runs - 126 | SR - 196.87 | HS - 33*

#3 Andre Russell (Kolkata Knight Riders)

Just like Rajasthan Royals, two-time winners Kolkata Knight Riders had a brilliant IPL campaign last time around as they reached the playoffs and ended up finishing third after losing to Sunrisers Hyderabad in the second Qualifier.

This time around too in IPL 2019, the Knight Riders will be looking to reach the playoffs or go a step better, as they have a strong batting line up consisting of the likes of Chris Lynn, Sunil Narine, Robin Uthappa, Dinesh Karthik, Andre Russell etc., who are world class T20 players, capable of winning matches on their own.

Having been a key player for Shahrukh Khan-owned franchise since 2014, the big West Indian Andre Russell will most possibly continue playing the role of a finisher for Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2019 too.

Overall IPL batting stats of Andre Russell:

Matches - 50 | Runs - 890 | SR - 177.29 | HS - 88*

#2 Yusuf Pathan (Sunrisers Hyderabad)

Last year's runners-up, Sunrisers Hyderabad have the most well-balanced squad among all the eight franchises in IPL 2019. But, the one area where Sunrisers Hyderabad have always lacked in IPL is the absence of quality finisher in their line up.

In the IPL Auctions of 2018, the Sunrisers Hyderabad bought the hard-hitting Indian veteran Yusuf Pathan to play the role of a finisher for them and Pathan did manage to play the role of finisher very well for the Hyderabad franchise last season, in the limited number of chances he got to bat.

Therefore, Sunrisers Hyderabad team management will be banking on Pathan to play the finisher's role for them in IPL 2019 too.

Overall IPL batting stats of Yusuf Pathan:

Matches - 164 | Runs - 3164 | SR - 144.08 | HS - 100

#1 MS Dhoni (Chennai Super Kings)

Defending champions Chennai Super Kings, are the most consistent team in the history of IPL and are also the only franchise to have reached the playoffs in every edition of IPL they have participated in.

Apart from that, Chennai Super Kings are one of the two franchise to have won the IPL trophy three times, with the other franchise being Chennai Super King's bitter rivals Mumbai Indians.

This time around too in IPL 2019, the Chennai Super Kings have retained almost all the players who were part of their winning campaign last season and bought just two players in the IPL Auctions this year.

Coming to the topic of who will play the role of a finisher for Chennai Super Kings, the obvious answer will be, it is going to be none other than Indian legend Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

Despite, going through a rough patch in international cricket which saw him get dropped from Indian T20 squad to tour Australia recently, Dhoni will be a guaranteed finisher for Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2019, as we all know he is one of the best finishers in the history of international cricket and was also one of the main reasons behind Chennai Super Kings lifting the IPL trophy last season.

Overall IPL batting stats of MS Dhoni:

Matches - 175 | Runs - 4016 | SR - 138.19 | HS - 79*

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