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Follow UsFirst things first, what were Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) doing for two and a half years by holding back the top-order potential of Marcus Stoinis????
You’re telling me LSG had *THIS* in their locker and chose to ignore it…. just like that? You’re telling me that, before today, they batted Stoinis in five different positions across three seasons but NOT ONCE in the top three? Sheesh.
But hey, better late than never.
After two and a half years, LSG might just have found Stoinis’ ideal batting position in the side and their long-term No.3 both in the same contest. And that might spell trouble for the rest of the field.
Because, all this while, the only thing truly holding LSG back was their own dumbfounding tactics with the bat in hand. If that’s gone, what can possibly stop this Lucknow side?
That’s a thought for another day. For now, though, let’s leave aside all that and focus on the ridiculous knock of Stoinis, who has statistically played the greatest knock in a run chase in IPL history.
Stoinis the batter in IPL is a fascinating case study, because he’s one of those players who has won plenty of matches with the bat and has established himself as an x-factor, but has still somehow failed to live up to his potential.
He is someone who possesses the talent to leave behind a legacy in the competition, but has not done it as a result of a lack of consistency.
The perception of Stoinis the batter might not change too much on the back of his heroics on April 23 (Tuesday), but one thing’s certain: he’s put in a performance that will be talked about for a long, long time.
Prior to Tuesday’s clash, in IPL’s 16-year history, there had not been a single instance of a batter scoring more than 120 in the second innings of a game, let alone in a successful run chase. CSK had also never lost at Chepauk when they had scored more than 205.
In the span of 63 balls, Stoinis single-handedly shattered both records. And it almost came out of the blue, considering the form he was in — he averaged 21.67 in seven games prior to this CSK clash, crossing the 25-run mark just once.
As far as the knock itself is concerned, this was a typical, trademark superhero performance from Stoinis. He was in the zone tonight and he muscled anything and everything that came in his way out of the park. Pace, spin, pace-on, pace-off — it didn’t matter. If it was in his arc, it went out of the park. Even the ones that were not in his arc went out of the park. The big Western Australian was seeing the ball like a football today.
But more than Stoinis’ stroke-making, it was his mentality and composure that stood out.
The right-hander walked in to bat when Lucknow had zero runs on the board. His side lost their skipper and trump card KL Rahul inside the powerplay, and Devdutt Padikkal played one of the most painful knocks of the season. The left-hander, who returned to the side tonight after temporarily getting dropped, crawled his way to 13 off 19 before getting bowled by Matheesha Pathirana. When Padikkal got out, the required run rate had jumped up to 13.6, with LSG needing 123 off 9 overs.
Equations such as these can be knocked down at venues like Wankhede and Chinnaswamy, but at Chepauk? Against CSK? Nah, you don’t end up on the winning side 99/100 times.
Yet at no point did Stoinis flinch. At no point did he lose belief. He was on 54 (31) when Padikkal got out. As it turned out, he amassed 70 runs off the next 32 balls he faced to take his side home against all odds.
In many ways, the final over of the game perfectly summed up Stoinis’ stunning performance on the night. LSG collected 15 off the penultimate over, but Mustafizur Rahman still had 17 runs to play with. Dew or no dew, that’s still a lot of runs to play with. As a bowling side, you’re effectively two or three good balls away from sealing the contest.
With momentum completely on their side, LSG were favorites, and it was now them who were expected to win. Pressure could thus have easily caught up to Stoinis, but the big man nonchalantly deposited the first ball of the over straight down the ground to bring the equation down to 11 off 5 balls.
He then drilled the next ball down the ground as well, albeit for four, and then delivered the knockout punch on the third ball of the over by slicing a full toss wide of short third man.
Fittingly, he finished the game off with another boundary, pulling the ball behind square, and let out a mighty roar as he single-handedly dragged his side over the line. Ice in his veins, as they say.
Post the game, skipper Rahul was full of praise for Stoinis. “Full credit to Stoinis. It was not just power hitting, it was very clever batting. He picked his bowlers and played very well,” Rahul said.
The LSG skipper explained that Stoinis was promoted because the side realized there was a need to utilize the powerplay.
“We felt like we needed to be braver and capitalize the powerplay and needed a power-hitter in the top three. We wanted to be a lot more braver as a team,” Rahul explained.
The move paid off as a whole, but Stoinis also achieved what he was sent out to do, scoring 26* off the 15 balls he faced in the powerplay.
Never in their wildest dreams would Lucknow have predicted Stoinis to go on to add 98 more runs, but it’s funny how sport can work sometimes.
This Stoinis promotion might have been a ‘one-off’ thing in LSG’s mind, but the franchise might just have ended up unintentionally (but organically) stumbling upon both the Western Australia’s ideal batting position, and their long term number three.
Two years too late, but it’s better late than never indeed.
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