T20 World Cup: Playing IPL gave me confidence to tackle Sri Lankan spinners, says Marcus Stoinis

Perth: Australian batter Marcus Stoinis on Tuesday credited his stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in helping him tackle Sri Lanka’s spinners during the hosts’ big win in the Men’s T20 World Cup here.

Stoinis’ scintillating knock (59 not out from 18) — the fastest T20I fifty by an Australia batter off 17 balls — powered Australia to a morale-lifting seven-wicket win over Sri Lanka in a Super 12 match at Perth Stadium.

During his knock, Stoinis struck some big sixes off the Sri Lankan spinners and admitted that playing in the IPL helped him neutralise Sri Lanka’s spin threat.

“Yeah, definitely the IPL has changed my cricket and helped me evolve, and it’s not only playing on the wickets, it’s having the coaches from all over the world, having players from different countries.

“I’ve played for quite a few years in the IPL and quite a few teams, so you come across a range of techniques and mentalities about how to play spin. Yeah, it has helped me improve for sure,” Stoinis said during the post-match press conference here on Tuesday.

“But yeah, so I’m looking for two balls really, one off the back foot and one off the front foot, just to at least have an option to each. Yeah,” Stoinis added.

The middle-order batter said he has settled on this kind of technique or mentality for playing his cricket.

“Yeah, it is, and you sort of then go from there. You’re trying to get the field that you want, which is sometimes why you want to play a lap or reverse or a sweep shot, which I’m working on sort of thing. Yeah, so that’s the skeleton of it. But then you’re always working,” he added.

–IANS