Marcus-Stoinis

Picture Credit: BCCI/IPL

Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has set a goal for himself. The 32-year-old wants to become the best finisher over the next three years, not just in Australia but in the world. And as the numbers suggest, he is not that far from achieving this feat. Notably, he will have a chance to work on his ambition when he takes the field, after four and half months, for the Delhi Capitals in the second leg of IPL 2021 and then in the T20 World Cup.

Stoinis has become a vital cog in Delhi Capitals’ lineup. He provides them stability lower down the order with his extraordinary hitting skills. His bowling has also been of great use, especially in UAE conditions. This is what the franchise gets from him, but for Stoinis, it’s more than just playing franchise cricket. He gets to pick the brains of one of the finest Australian cricketers, Ricky Ponting.

“Ricky is a bloody genius. And a lot of his genius isn't always about cricket. It's about how he communicates with people. He understands me quite well. So, he knows how to push my buttons. He knows when to challenge me. He knows when to pump me up,” Stoinis quoted.

Ponting is also well aware of the capabilities Stoinis possesses. “The more I got to know him, he's a very deep thinker...He is a hard worker. There's no doubt about that. He likes to bat and bowl as much as anyone we've had at Delhi, so as long as I give some clear direction and he understands what he's doing and what his role is, then I just let him go about getting himself prepared," Ponting was quoted as saying in DC's latest video.

I feel like fear of failure is starting to diminish for me: Stoinis

It’s said that to become a good finisher, one needs to be fearless. In cricketing context, it means to play your game irrespective of who is bowling or batting before you. “Even the other day I was thinking about it, and I was talking to myself about fear. We've all got a bit of fear in us. I feel like a fear of failure for me is hopefully starting to diminish - in that, to me, I'm only going to fail when I give up," he said.

The numbers we mentioned above says that, in T20I cricket, only Kieron Pollard and Mohammad Nabi have scored more runs with a better strike rate and boundary percentage in the lower middle order than Marcus Stoinis. He is already ahead of the likes of Hardik Pandya, David Miller, and Nicholas Pooran to name some of the players.