Marcus Stoinis, an Australian all-rounder, claims that MS Dhoni was open and honest with him during their conversation during the IPL 2021. Dhoni explained how CSK would bowl and set the field against the all-rounder, who is part of Australia’s squad for the ongoing T20 World Cup.
Due to a hamstring injury sustained during Delhi Capitals’ (DC) game against Sunrisers Hyderabad, Stoinis missed a significant portion of the IPL 2021 second leg (SRH). He limped off the field after picking up the injury on the first pitch of his second over. He made a comeback against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in Qualifier 2, but he failed to make an impact.
Stoinis has revealed an interesting conversation he had with none other than CSK’s four-time IPL-winning captain MS Dhoni ahead of Australia’s match against Sri Lanka on Thursday. The 32-year-old, on the other hand, isn’t sure if Dhoni complimented him or poked fun at him during the conversation.
“He was actually quite straightforward with me. He seemed to grasp my meaning and said something about how they (CSK) would try to bowl to me and how he would try to set the fields for me. In an interview with The Grade Cricketer’s YouTube channel, Stoinis said, “It was both a compliment and a little dig where I had to figure out which way to take it and I’m taking it as a compliment (laughs).”
Stoinis”really nice’ advice from Dhoni
In addition, the Perth native recalled a suggestion from Dhoni that aided him during a training session.
“It was very interesting,” the 32-year-old continued, “because he did say that it’s very obvious how some people want to take some responsibility and stay until the end, whereas others are willing to take the risk early to, sort of, either try and get ahead of the game or walk off, and he identifies that within the team.”
“We talked about training and his philosophy of ‘Work on your weakness as long as it doesn’t detract from your strength.’ So he talked about how a lot of coaches will tell you to work on something, and you might work on the short ball and then start missing the full ball… which was a really, really nice filter for me in training,” the all-rounder continued.
On the field, Marcus Stoinis was instrumental in the team’s victory over South Africa in the Super 12s opener at the T20 World Cup 2021 on October 23. Australia was struggling at 81 for 5 in 15.2 overs while chasing a 119-run target. Anrich Nortje, Keshav Maharaj, and Tabraiz Shamsi of South Africa had almost won the match when Stoinis teamed up with Matthew Wade (15) and scored 24 runs off just 16 balls to help Australia win by 5 wickets with two balls remaining.
