Marcus Stoinis put in one of the finest performances for a batter in the history of the Indian Premier League (IPL) as Lucknow Super Giants chased down the target of 211 runs against Chennai Super Kings. It isn’t easy for any team to breach CSK’s fortress Chepauk but Stoinis brave effort paid rich dividends as LSG moved into the playoffs spot with a victory against the Super Kings. After the match, Stoinis explained how he used MS Dhoni’s teachings to undo his own team, CSK, in the match at Chepauk on Tuesday.
In a video shared by LSG on social media, Stoinis revealed the message Dhoni once gave him about chasing big totals. The Australian all-rounder made good use of Dhoni’s mantra at Chepauk.
“MS Dhoni told this one thing to me. He said in big games, everyone thinks that I’ve got to do something extra. I’ve got to do something different. His mantra and how he speaks to himself is he stays there, he stands still and he says everyone else is going to change. I’m going to be the only one here that doesn’t change and that holds him ahead of everyone else.,” Stoinis said in the video.
Stoinis’ knock went into the IPL history books as the highest individual score in a successful run-chase. Stoinis went past former Punjab Kings’ batter Paul Valthaty’s record of 120* that he made against Chennai in 2011 during a run-chase of 189. In his knock, Stoinis made an unbeaten 124 in 63 balls, with 13 fours and six sixes. His strike rate stood at a whopping 196.83.
After the match, Stoinis said: “In these competitions, there are plenty of better opening batters better than me so I’ll leave it to them. It’s not just go go go, there were some bowlers we wanted to target and some bowlers we wanted to be more cautious against. There was a phase where I wasn’t able to hit the boundaries so it was great Pooran could come in and take the pressure off.
“Lots of ebbs and flows, just tried to keep it in control. You’re planning and structuring, you’re not liking certain bowlers and you’re liking others more. I do think T20 cricket is changing, the scores that have been scored, the impact player role and how teams are taking on the bowlers.”
