IPL changed my cricket, helped me evolve: Stoinis

Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has credited the IPL for his evolution as a better cricketer, especially a transformation in his attitude against spinners, which was on full display in the T20 World Cup game against Sri Lanka here.

Generally tentative against spin, Stoinis (59 not out off 18) tore apart the Sri Lankan spin duo of Wanindu Hasaranga and Maheesh Theekshana to ensure a confidence-boosting seven-wicket win for the defending champions after a disastrous start to their World Cup campaign.

“Yeah, definitely the IPL has changed my cricket and helped me evolve, and it’s not only playing on the wickets, it’s having the coaches from all over the world, having players from different countries,” Stoinis said after the win on Tuesday night.

“I’ve played for quite a few years in the IPL and quite a few teams, so you come across a range of techniques and mentalities about how to play spin. Yeah, it has helped me improve for sure.

“But yeah, so I’m looking for two balls really, one off the back foot and one off the front foot, just to at least have an option to each,” he said.

“You sort of then go from there. You’re trying to get the field that you want, which is sometimes why you want to play a lap or reverse or a sweep shot, which I’m working on sort of thing.”

Stoinis also created a new record for the fastest T20 International half-century by an Australian en route his power-packed knock, but the all-rounder said he was actually nervous while walking out to bat.

“I was actually quite nervous, to be honest, so yeah, the intention was just to go put an impact on the game and probably provide a bit of energy for the boys and try and get a spark going.” Stoinis’ knock not only handed Australia a comeback win, but also helped in boosting their net run rate, which took a beating in the loss against New Zealand.

But the 33-year-old said his fiery knock was not pre-planned.

“Not really. It was just batting and looking at a score and then maybe towards the last couple of overs that I faced, I thought should I rein it in or should I keep going, but it’s probably just the time; you just keep going. If you hit one and get caught on the boundary, it’s part of the game.”

Stoinis begs to differ that Australia were a bit flat in their bowling department against Sri Lanka.

“I don’t think we felt flat, to be honest. I think it felt like we bowled pretty well. I felt like we bowled well in the powerplay. There were a few balls up in the air that fell in gaps and that sort of stuff. I think we’re pretty happy with how we bowled,” he said.

“Yeah, there’s definitely things we can tidy up, you tidy up three or four balls in the game, and it could be the difference of 18 runs sort of thing. Yeah, it’ll just be little things that we review.” Australia missed the services of leg-spinner Adam Zampa against Sri Lanka, who is down with COVID.

“It’s not ideal because I know he (Zampa) would have loved to be out there playing today. Yeah, but that’s just where we’re at at the moment, I guess. Everyone around the world is going through that, and every team is going to have their process in place to try and keep it as safe as possible,” he said.