Dhas: The finisher who can double up as a stabiliser too

 A total of 56 deliveries is all that Sachin Dhas faced in the first four games of India's ongoing U-19 World Cup campaign in South Africa. No fault of his, because he was batting down the order, having been assigned the role of a finisher.

Dhas still left his mark in these games, his scores reading 26₹ off 20 balls, 21₹ off 9 balls, 20 off 16 balls and 15 off 11 balls.

If coach Hrishikesh Kanitkar and National Cricket Academy (NCA) chief VVS Laxman-he's also with the team that has entered the final-entrusted the youngster from Maharashtra with this responsibility, it must have been because of his ability to hit a long ball. For Dhas, who turned 19 on February 3, to then show the versatility- he came in early and bailed the team out in the last two games-suggests he has all the attributes in whiteball cricket worth getting excited about.

He certainly caught former West Indies fast bowler Ian Bishop's attention. "There's something about Sachin Dhas.

Something good," Bishop, a commentator at the U-19 World Cup, said on X.

In the semi-final against South Africa in Benoni on Tuesday, India were up against it at 32/4 in a chase of 245, against a South African attack wellequipped to exploit the conditions.