"The hardest thing to do in international cricket is hit the winning runs."

So goes a mantra employed by Adam Gilchrist to inspire defensive efforts in the field, a phrase used to effect in the closing stages of the Big Bash. If that is true, then James Faulkner is an expert at doing the hardest thing of all.

Yes, I know Glenn Maxwell played the best game of his career in Sunday's ODI at the MCG. Maxwell guided Australia home from a precarious position against India with an innings of 96 that was both mature and gloriously entertaining.

But would he have been able to produce such a knock without the calming influence of James Faulkner's unbeaten 21?

Probably, yes. Ok. You're right. When Maxwell is in his particular zone you could drop a hot cobra down the back of his strides and he would blithely play a look-away reverse cover cut over the wicketkeeper for five.

But we're not talking about Maxwell today, we're talking about Faulkner. Because as of right now, Faulkner has produced a truly extraordinary sequence in a sport that is given to producing extraordinary sequences.

We'll get to it in a second, but we should also note why it matters. Faulkner's last outing before this series was his man-of-the-match performance in the 2015 World Cup final. He was then suspended for a drink-driving charge in England, and played his way back for this summer.

Personal redemption aside, he resumes residence in a changed outfit. From ten months ago they've lost Brad Haddin from behind the stumps, Michael Clarke from the captaincy, Mitchell Johnson from leading the bowling attack, Shane Watson as the premier all-rounder, and Xavier Doherty as the steady spinner.

Now the team is built around a core of eight players with between 47 and 67 games, many of whom were fringe options a year ago.

Steve Smith had just got back in the side, George Bailey was pushed out to accommodate Clarke's valedictory, Shaun Marsh comes and goes like a retro fashion revival, Aaron Finch and Matthew Wade have constant sceptics, and Maxwell's bona fides as a cricketer have been questioned since day one.

Now, Faulkner and Maxwell are senior and significant players. The way they handled Australia's run chase in Melbourne only confirmed that. But it also continued Faulkner's string of results.

James Faulkner has a happy knack of closing out ODI wins for Australia. ( Getty Images: Ryan Pierse )

If you follow cricket you would have heard him referred to as 'The Finisher'. This is mostly about his team-mates giving him a ribbing, along the lines of Maxwell's loathed badge of The Big Show.

But there is truth and a touch of admiration in both. Right now, Faulkner's ability to close out ODI innings with the bat is statistically unparalleled. And given no hot streak can last forever, we might as well appreciate the full glory now.

Take a minute to digest the following sentences. Chew them over. Savour them.

In the 15 ODI run chases that he's batted in, James Faulkner averages 119.

Of Faulkner's 15 run chases, Australia has won 11.

In those 11 winning chases, Faulkner averages 287.

You can deduce from this that in 11 successful chases, he has been out once. He has remained at the crease for the win on the other 10 occasions.

On nine of those 10 occasions, Faulkner has hit the winning runs himself.

Four times, he has hit the winning runs in the last over. Two other times, in the second-last over.

Even with all the vicissitudes of cricket's statistical weirdness and no qualification in terms of number of innings, only two players have a better chasing average than Faulkner. Bevan Congdon batted four times for 148, Deryck Murray five times for 122.

In terms of winning chases, the only player to rival Faulkner was Jeremy Coney, who batted in a dozen such games and was never dismissed. (He was out in 19 of 20 losing chases though, with an average of 20.21 versus Faulkner's 63, and he doesn't have an average in winning chases so Faulkner kind of looks better.)

Of Faulkner's four chases that Australia has lost, one was in his first ever shot, when he made 54 not out from 42 balls as his team subsided around him at the 2013 Champion's Trophy. You can't say he didn't hold up his end.

Another was when he smashed the fastest ODI century by an Australian batsman, from 57 balls, in an insane chase in India in 2013.

Set 384, Faulkner dragged his side up from 6 for 138 to finish at 326. With 58 needed from 30 balls he was actually on track for the win, but had to force the pace with his number 10 unable to get off strike. Faulkner ended up last out for 116.

That means there are two chases out of 15 where Faulkner hasn't substantially contributed, and one of them (17 off 14 balls, not the worst) was his second attempt. He's only been out in four chases, and only once in single figures.

Another way of looking at it: in the 10 run chases where Faulkner has been not out, his team has won nine.

Obviously not all of his contributions have been taxing: his innings of 1 not out from one ball at the WACA wouldn't have brought on cold sweats.

But you still need the calm and the technique to do the job in the last over. Swish and miss a couple of times, hit one to the field, and suddenly the pressure will be immense. As we saw when Maxwell defended two runs from an over against Pakistan, it's easy for batsmen to lose their nerve.

All the while, Faulkner's strike rate in run chases is 130.41 per hundred balls faced. Faulkner doesn't just chase down targets. He chases down big targets, distant targets, that require sustained acceleration.

The game before that century, Faulkner rescued another lost cause with 64 from 29 balls to chase 304. He took the requirement from 44 off 18 balls down to 14 off 12 with a monster over from Ishant Sharma, then finished the game off.

In Brisbane 2014 he broke England's hearts and nerve after their Ashes whitewash. The imminent balm of victory, with Australia nine down and 57 runs short, was washed off the wound by Faulkner's torrential 69 from 47 balls, sealed with three to spare.

Of course this streak can't go on forever. None of cricket's glories can. Adam Voges' epic Test average of 85.66 will come down, as Mike Hussey's did before it. Water tends to find its level.

But for the time being, with a new-look team looking for leaders, there is a touch of magic about James Faulkner.

It's there in his teammates and in him, a deep-set belief than when he comes to the wicket with a target ahead of him, whatever the magnitude, he must be able to run it down. And that's the funny thing about belief. Sometimes if you do it hard enough, you make a thing come true.