Marcus Stoinis Comes to the Party in IPL 2023

The Lucknow track has been tricky for batters throughout the season, and it was no different the other night as everyone, except Marcus Stoinis struggled. Marcus Stoinis alone struck at a strong pace going with a strike rate higher than 170, while the others, including the likes of Suryakumar Yadav and Tim David struggled to get going.

Stoinis though did not start easy. He too was slow up front making only 35 in his first 29 balls. The others around him didn’t do much better. Early wickets, and a stabilizing act by Krunal Pandya helped set a platform, but Lucknow were far from a score which looked defendable against a powerful Mumbai Indians batting line-up. Stoinis though, with his muscle power and might cranked it up in the back end. He made 54 off his last 18 balls, smashing eight sixes.

This season has already been his best. With the bat, despite starting a touch slow, Marcus Stoinis has gone on to make his three highest scores in the league, and has looked menacing as a finisher. Before this game though, Stoinis made those other big scores on tracks which are known to be really good for batters. Today though, Stoinis found it easy on a track which was pretty tricky.

A couple weeks ago his position in the line-up was a doubt with Quinton De Kock coming back from national duty and Kyle Mayers smoking the ball up top. Lucknow did eventually bench Mayers, leading to the possibility of Stoinis moving to the top, a position of success with the Melbourne Stars. Stoinis though continued to stay back with his power adding value to the back end of the innings and the move to keep him in the back seems to have paid off.

Against Mumbai Indians, and against Chris Jordan in the 18th over, his power was evident. Jordan threw whatever he could at Stoinis, changing his pace, looking for the yorker, and even trying to hurry him for pace. Stoinis though was unfazed as he took Jordan for 24 runs to increase his head to head success against Jordan.

Jason Behrendorff, a teammate of Marcus Stoinis at Western Australia, knows that Stoinis loves pace on the ball. Stoinis though, despite all the variations, once again found the fence, and continued to work his magic up until the final over against Madhwal, who was bowling really well up until that point.

A key aspect of his hitting was his shape. Despite slogging really well, Marcus Stoinis did not lose his shape, held his position nicely and was solid, allowing him to get on top of the bowlers. He did well against the spinners as well, and with Marcus Stoinis having the ability to contribute with the ball too, he has made himself look all the more dangerous once again. With the bat, he already knows how to dominate pace, and has also found a way to take on the spinners making him a player who could pose a threat across the country, regardless of the surface.