OPINION
Follow UsMarcus Stoinis is known for his brawn, he is known to be the ‘Hulk’ with the way he can clear the boundaries with ease in world cricket. But on Tuesday (May 16), he combined brain with brawn and made people go, “Wait, what really?”
Stoinis as an entity itself has gone through severe criticisms. For the longest time, teams failed to use him well or used him in a situation that wouldn’t get the best of him. Then, they would ship him for monetary gains.c
He did quite the travel in the IPL: from Royal Challengers Bangalore to Kings XI Punjab to Delhi Capitals and then ultimately landed in the land of Nawabs. His all-round prowess was well-documented.
But then there was this small asterisk next to it, just like how these lucrative credit cards often do. It was lucrative, and Lucknow took the opportunity. That asterisk is his ability against spin. Over the years, the right-hander has shown massive vulnerability for the turning ball, and with Lucknow’s home ground just offering that, would Stoinis really be the solution?
Till the start of IPL 2020, Stoinis had played 25 IPL games, out of which his average against spin was 23.86, and the strike-rate was 115.97. That showed two things, a) he wasn’t overly comfortable playing spin and b) he wasn’t attacking them anyway.
And that haunted him. Delhi’s attempts at promoting him cost the franchise big time for the same reason. Whenever Stoinis used to walk out, the opponents used to casually throw the ball to their spinners. More often than not, the right-hander used to succumb.
In the two IPL seasons that followed, there was a conscious effort from Stoinis to up the ante against spin. He got out just four times out of 17 innings and scored runs with an average of 45.25 while still striking at 131.16. It wasn’t still glory.
But then what happened in the next two IPL seasons is nuts.
An average of 25.67? Spin, right? ❌
An average of 36? Must be pace. Nope, you are wrong again ❌❌
Stoinis’ transformation against spin is a crazy tale. He still looks like a fish out of water when tasked to face the toughest of spinners, like Ravindra Jadeja in Lucknow. But what he has done since then is understood his limitations against certain bowlers while taking on others.
Since the start of IPL 2022, there’s this staggering part about his transformation that truly makes him a Nawab right now. Essentially, he has never got out to a spinner more than twice. On an average too, he has managed to up his control rate to 79.6%. That’s quite a massive difference. And it wasn’t an option, it was rather a necessity.
A necessity that could very well have defined his future with the franchise. So, where did all of this power and wit really come from?
It might be a little strange but it was since the start of the year 2021, and in T20Is that he learnt attacking spin is quite a handy option. By then, the entire world knew he was susceptible to spin, but the large muscles came to his rescue.
Since 2021, across all T20Is, the right-hander faced some handy opponents, and some quality spinners, in Maheesh Theekshana, Wanindu Hasaranga, Adil Rashid, Shadab Khan and Ish Sodhi. All of them have proven their wicket-taking worth in international cricket. Against all of them, Stoinis has a minimum strike-rate of nearly 160.
Against the likes of Theekshana and Hasaranga, the peak touches 240 and 250, showing clearly that bowling spin wasn't really the best option in the 2022 T20 World Cup. But that was Australia, and the conditions weren’t as conducive to spin.
Also Read: When Marcus Stoinis transformed into The Hulk
So, if Stoinis could and would do the same in India, in the IPL, then there isn’t a debate.
Cut to the main scene.
Situation: Trouble
Villain: Spin
Cue: Action
It was an intense battle out in the middle. Piyush Chawla had struck off his very first delivery sending a struggling Quinton de Kock back home. All odds pointed to Stoinis having a hard time. He had played six games here in Lucknow but every time he walked out to bat, he would look sillier than the previous time.
And every time he walked out, there was this familiar state of relief in the opposition camp, oh he’s not going to play spin well. There was Chawla right in front of them, almost giving a stare-down. Rohit Sharma would have been aware of his vulnerability against spin.
Stoinis knew it as well. He was improved, much improved but again, an average of 11.2, after six games, with a strike-rate of 96.5 isn’t taking you anywhere, let alone in a crunch situation in the IPL. But he’s here, all he had to do is take Lucknow out of the jail that they created for themselves in the first place.
And what Stoinis did perhaps showed why there is after all brain in that brawn. With Krunal Pandya at the other end – who was more than willing to take the spinners on – Stoinis took the back seat. He was playing music, chilling, and only took two risks: to hit Chawla for a six, and later Hrithik Shokeen.
Mumbai perhaps missed a trick.
True, there were many left-handers in the opposition, but the mystery element of Kumar Kartikeya on that pitch could have been invaluable. And it was evident with how Stoinis bided his time at the crease. It wasn’t a wicket that had any true bounce, it wasn’t a surface that screamed runs, and it wasn’t a demon either.
All it required is some sense. In the middle-overs, Stoinis showed that character and composure. There was just one boundary against the Mumbai pace unit. Largely, it was all about rotating strikes and using longer boundaries.
Once he was set, it was Stoin-ball at full tilt, and unfortunately, Chris Jordan was at the receiving end of that carnage. Jordan’s vulnerability is well-known. His yorkers are no more a certainty but Mumbai as always banked on the experience. And that here, let them down.
Full tosses travelled the distance, full deliveries travelled too, length ones out of here; back of a length wasn’t spared either and when pitched short, it travelled long. In the last five overs, Stoinis showed a range that was previously missing. Not just that, there has been one theme in the all-rounder’s season – consistency.
On a surface that was indeed sticking, it was crucial to hit straight, and evidently, so, he was doing JUST that.
“What you want to do is make the batters hit in the areas that you want them to hit, and making it as hard for them. Stoinis is a fine player, and he was hitting the ball straight down the ground and we allowed him to do exactly that,” Mumbai’s bowling coach Shane Bond said in the post-match press conference.
“In the end, that is the difference,” he had to add. In a must-win encounter against a dominant force like Mumbai, it had to be the Hulk delivering the goods.
Stoinis wasn’t flexing his muscles anymore, he was flexing his brains.
