Question after Spectacular Last Ball Finish: Is Dinesh Karthik-Miandad India’s New Finisher?

Yesterday’s performance by Dinesh Karthik where he whacked the last ball over the rope to claim victory for India in a T20 match against Bangladesh warmed the cockles of crores of Indian hearts! It also sent Twitter into a paroxysm of delight, elicited extravagant compliments from the high-and-mighty of the cricket fraternity and earned him the nickname of Dinesh Miandad – a reference to the last ball win by Pakistani batsman Javed Miandad off Chetan Sharma, a loss India neither forgave nor forgot!

A Big First

'It’s never happened in T20 cricket,' observed this commentator: a successful run chase win when 5 or more were needed off the last ball! 34 were needed from the last 12 balls and Karthik pulled it off with style!

A truly spectacular innings

As Mitchell McClenaghan (@Mitch_Savage) pointed out, this was one of the best closing innings of all time. Karthik blasted an incredible 29 off 8 balls, with a strike rate of over 300. He slammed three sixes, two boundaries, a two and a single in the last two overs.

That was pretty much it

This sums up the near-orgasmic delight that erupted after Karthik's final heave over the fence to present Indians with the opportunity to indulge in a collective, national fist pump!

India’s Miandad?

When Javed Miandad hit a six off the last ball of the match all those years ago in Sharjah, many Indian hearts broke and remained so for a long time! For those who remember Miandad coming down the pitch and converting Chetan Sharma's timid attempted Yorker into a full toss, they bear the wounds of that moment still. For those wounded souls, this was a vindication!

Many made the Miandad connection…

…including poor Chetan Sharma himself.

Sachin was full of praises

Rahul Dravid, VVS Laxman, Harbhajan Singh and many more spoke in one voice to express admiration and amazement over Karthik’s knock. Apparently it is quite fashionable to refer to a cricketer as ‘You Beauty’ these days. Aakash Chopra, Wriddhiman Saha and Yuvraj Singh certainly think so!

Twitter’s favourite meme

This one was just crying out to be made, right? A series of pictures that best demonstrate how the last over saw the Indians snatch victory from the jaws of defeat!

Or perhaps this:

This is snatching – literally! Poor bird didn’t stand a chance! Neither, apparently, did the Bangladeshi bowler!

India’s new finisher?

Has the Indian team finally found a worthy successor to Mahendra Singh Dhoni, the best ever finisher, the Twitterati asked breathlessly.

Reaction from the man himself

Probably one of the best nights of my life. Nothing comes close to crossing the finish line for your country… he said on Instagram when he posted this picture.

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