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Game-time comes bearing a better game plan for Stoinis

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Game-time comes bearing a better game plan for Stoinis

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INDIAN PREMIER LEAGUE, 2020

Stoinis scored 53(21) and bowled the crucial last over that led to the Super Over.

Stoinis scored 53(21) and bowled the crucial last over that led to the Super Over. ©BCCI/IPL

When Kings XI Punjab decided against sending Mayank Agarwal in the Super Over, there were questions raised on the think tank. Should he have not been facing up after finding his hitting groove in the latter half of his 60-ball stay? By Agarwal’s own admission after the game, the pitch in Dubai did not lend itself to hitting from the outset, and needed batsmen to take time to settle in. While that will remain a questionable decision, the rationale also extends to a wider perspective of the value of having game-time under their belt, and how exactly does it make a difference.

Take for example, Marcus Stoinis who with a strike-rate of 252.38 launched an extraordinary assault that changed Delhi Capitals’ fortunes in a matter of 21 balls. Nobody else who faced more than a ball in the game managed a strike-rate of even 150.

Just two weeks ago, Stoinis was on the other side of this equation. Facing up in a T20I – Australia’s first outing after the Covid-19 enforced break – he was tasked with a difficult role in the lower middle-order. He’d faltered there, hitting just one six in his 18-ball stay as Australia fell short by two runs. Chris Jordan played a big part in that English attack, with Stoinis managing just 2 runs off four balls in against the Jordan match-up in the 19th over. There were swings and mistimed shots that ended up with his position as a finisher being questioned.

But that was just the first of the six international outings that Stoinis would have before entering IPL 2020. And the game-time that these matches offered was not just a boon for some of the IPL franchises, but providing Stoinis some time for analysing his own game.

When he fronted up against Jordan again, this time against Kings XI Punjab, he would go on to strike 25 runs in the final over. What changed in the two weeks was a shift in his game plan.

“A lot of bowlers are trying to bowl wide to me these days, so I’ve sort of done work on that stuff, try to hit in different areas but still stick to my strength which is hitting straight,” said Stoinis to the broadcasters after his innings.

That answer was in reply to a key change in his technique, with a preemptive shuffle outside off, allowing himself a more comfortable position to hit by getting closer to the line. The side-effect was that it also threw Jordan off his original plan, whereby he began to stray down the legside while trying to hit the exposed stumps.

That the franchises across the IPL recognised the need in having England and Australian players from their first outing was evident in how they pushed for a reduced quarantine period, with the promise of extraordinary logistical orchestration in moving them from one bio bubble to another.

Sam Curran in the opening game and Stoinis now may have just validated the importance of those measures for this early part of the tournament.

© Cricbuzz



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