Alex Carey aspires to emulate MS Dhoni as an ODI finisher

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Australian wicketkeeper-batsman Alex Carey has expressed his desire to emulate former Indian skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni as one of the best finishers in the world after realising that his future lies in batting down the order for his national side. 

Though the 28-year-old opened the batting for Australia as recently as in January 2019, his most exceptional performances for the national side came batting down the order during the 2019 International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup. 

Carey was one of the national side's most prolific batsmen in the World Cup outside the top six as he amassed 375 runs in nine innings he played at a strike rate of over 100 and  average of 62.50.

Following his World Cup heroics, Carey seems to have realised that his future lies batting lower down the order as he said that he aspires to be a finisher for his team just like Indian wicketkeeper-batsman MS Dhoni. 

"When you look at the best in the world like MS Dhoni, you want to learn as much as you can from him. I was lucky enough to play against him last year, just the way he took the game deep and won games for India.I aspire to do that one day. It's just improving little parts of my game," the ICC official website quoted Carey as saying. 

Not just at the international level, Carey has also shifted down from opening the match at the domestic level as well. The Australian batsman has moved to the fourth spot for the Adelaide strikers in this summer's Big Bash League (BBL) and is currently among the top 10 run-getters in the tournament. 

Carey admitted that he is not much bothered about where to bat as long as he is batting for the national side and getting a chance to prove himself.

"It's going to be, a lot of the time, dependent on the situation of the game [where I bat in the future]. Hopefully your No.5, 6 or 7 come in later in the innings and if I'm batting in one of those spots, I am happy enough to do that.Batting (in the) middle order with Adelaide has been something that I've identified in my game. If I'm playing for Australia it's probably going to be through the middle. It's one of those roles I want to get better at and hopefully win games for Australia," he said. 

Carey had played with Dhoni during India's tour of Australia in 2018/19 as well as during the side's return series in India for five ODIs in March 2019.

The Australian batsman's comments came ahead of his side's three-match ODI series against India, beginning January 14.