NE SPORTS BUREAU
SYDNEY, OCT 25
Australian batswoman Grace Harris says she takes inspiration from Mahendra Singh Dhoni and she is moulding herself in the role of a finisher like the former India skipper.
Harris, who has played nine ODIs and 11 T20Is for Australia since making her debut in 2015, smashed 53 off 37 balls as defending champions Brisbane Heat started their WBBL campaign with a win against Perth Scorchers on Sunday.
“I’ve been watching a lot of MS Dhoni’s innings really, I took a bit of inspiration from him,” Harris was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
Dhoni, who announced retirement from international cricket in August, is considered as one of the best finishers ever as he has won innumerable matches for India from seemingly hopeless positions.
“He (Dhoni) is a fantastic finisher of the game and he might get behind but at the end of the day, they win games and he’s ahead of the count. I’m definitely hoping to do something similar to that,” Harris said.
Chasing 133, the 27-year-old Harris paced her innings well. She scored 11 off the first 18 balls but then took the opposition bowlers to the cleaners as the required run rate started to climb up.
“I can catch up, it doesn’t matter how many dot balls I have – it’s not ideal and you want to rotate the strike as much as possible – but in situations like today where I struggle early, it”s (about) remaining in a calm mindset,” she said.
