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Why Marcus Stoinis considers Ricky Ponting a genius
Australia face a nervous wait to find out the severity of the injury allrounder Marcus Stoinis suffered in Delhi Capitals’ first match of the resumed IPL in Dubai after he limped out of the attack in his second over.
Stoinis, who had tweaked his back during pre-season training with Western Australia, had bowled his seventh delivery when he was unable to continue with what appeared a hamstring injury a month before Australia begin their T20 World Cup campaign.
He was one of the players to opt out of the tours of West Indies and Bangladesh due to bubble fatigue and was hoping to use the IPL as a way of tuning up before the World Cup.
Speaking to ESPNcricinfo recently he said he was aiming to develop himself into one of the best finishers in the world having been given the role with Delhi Capitals under Ricky Ponting and shown promise for Australia, whereas he opens for Melbourne Stars in the BBL.
If Stoinis’ injury was bad enough to sideline him from the World Cup his likely replacement would be Dan Christian who was among the three traveling reserve players Australia named.
The Capitals-Sunrisers match was not an ideal one from Australia’s point of view with David Warner collecting a third-ball duck in his first innings since the IPL was suspended. Like Stoinis, Warner was not part of Australia’s recent tours and had also been dropped by SRH in the opening stage of the competition.
The members of the Australia squad not at the IPL are expected to depart for the UAE in around two weeks and are due to have two warm-up matches against India and New Zealand before the tournament.
Some of those players will have a chance of a game in domestic cricket before flying out. Mitchell Marsh took his opportunity with a century for Western Australia on Wednesday while Josh Inglis and Ashton Agar also played. Kane Richardson was part of the South Australia side.
Captain Aaron Finch is still recovering from the knee surgery that ruled him out of the Bangladesh tour while New South Wales players will not have the opportunity for a game with their fixtures still to be confirmed due to Covid-19 border closures.
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Source: ESPN Crickinfo