New Delhi: For years, the IPL finisher felt like cricket’s version of a superhero entrance. The game could look completely lost, the required run-rate touching impossible numbers, the crowd already giving up, and then someone would walk in and change everything within a few overs. These players were trusted to survive pressure, calculate chases and somehow find clarity in chaos.
Some of the league’s most unforgettable moments have come from finishers: Mahendra Singh Dhoni taking it deep and finishing games for Chennai Super Kings, Kieron Pollard tearing apart bowling attacks for Mumbai Indians, or Ravindra Jadeja pulling off that unforgettable final over in the 2023 IPL final to seal the title for Chennai.
Then there were innings that felt almost cinematic. Rahul Tewatia hitting five sixes against Punjab Kings in 2020 after struggling through most of the innings, or Rinku Singh smashing five consecutive sixes against Gujarat Titans in 2023 when the game looked completely finished. Those moments didn’t just win matches, they changed moods, silenced stadiums and turned players into cult heroes overnight.
Finishers felt rare because they brought more than power. They brought composure. They made panic look controllable. But the modern IPL has slowly changed that idea. Today, almost everyone is expected to be a finisher.
The Impact Player rule, deeper batting line-ups and the league’s obsession with strike-rates have transformed finishing from a specialist’s role into a basic requirement. Teams no longer wait for one designated closer because almost every middle-order batter is now trained to arrive and attack immediately.
Young players grow up practising ramp shots, yorker hitting and boundary options before they even establish themselves in domestic cricket. The result is that the role of the finisher has become less exclusive than it once was. This season has highlighted that shift perfectly.
New names are deciding games at the death almost every week. Players like Salil Arora, Donovan Ferreira, Ashutosh Sharma and Shashank Singh have emerged as match-winners despite entering the season without major attention. Donovan Ferreira has scored in finishing phases at a strike-rate close to 282, while Salil Arora has crossed 200. Suddenly, almost every team has two or three players capable of playing the finisher’s role.
Salil Arora’s rise has especially captured attention because of how fearless his batting has looked. One of the season’s standout moments came against Mumbai Indians at the Wankhede, where he played a blistering cameo at a strike-rate of 300 and even launched a no-look six straight back over Jasprit Bumrah’s head; a shot that instantly went viral.
Moments like Krunal Pandya’s match-winning innings against Mumbai Indians showed that finishing still carries emotion and character beyond numbers. Battling cramps and visible pain, Krunal scored a gritty 73 off 46 balls for RCB in a tense chase, controlling the innings almost entirely on his own before Bengaluru sealed the game on the final ball.
Towards the end of the season, Delhi Capitals’ Madhav Tiwari has also emerged as another example of the IPL’s evolving finisher culture, showing remarkable composure in a pressure chase against Punjab Kings and proving how quickly new match-winners are being created in the modern game.
That’s what feels different about this IPL era. Earlier, teams revolved around one specialist. You waited for a Dhoni, a Pollard or an AB de Villiers because they possessed something unique. Now, the responsibility is spread across the batting order. A No. 4 batter may finish one game, while a No. 7 batter takes over the next depending on the situation. Finishing has become more flexible, but somewhere along the way, the mystery around the role has slightly faded too.
Still, some players continue to remind everyone why true finishing is about much more than just hitting sixes.
Dinesh Karthik remains one of the best examples of that. If Dhoni made finishing iconic, Karthik modernised it for the next generation. His role for Royal Challengers Bengaluru in 2022 showed how valuable a specialist finisher could still be in a hyper-aggressive era. He scored 330 runs at a strike-rate above 183, often rescuing RCB from difficult situations despite walking in with very little time left.
What made Karthik special was not just power-hitting. It was calculation. He understood bowlers, anticipated slower deliveries and knew exactly when to attack. In many ways, he became the bridge between the old-school finisher and the modern T20 accelerator.
The same applies to David Miller. Across his IPL career, Miller has built a reputation as one of the game’s calmest finishers. His brilliance has never only been about striking boundaries; it has been about timing pressure perfectly. His 2022 season for Gujarat Titans remains one of the finest finishing campaigns in recent years, scoring 481 runs at an average close to 69 while repeatedly rescuing Gujarat in difficult chases alongside Rahul Tewatia.
The IPL has not eliminated finishing as a skill. Instead, it has normalised it. Everyone is now expected to perform the role, which is exactly why the mystique around the finisher feels slightly reduced. The role still exists, but it no longer belongs only to a few specialists.