IND V AUS 2020: 'Marcus Stoinis five times better player than he was 12 months ago,' says Ricky Ponting
Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting feels that all-rounder Marcus Stoinis is five times better than he was last year.
Ponting coached Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Delhi Capitals and Stoinis was one of the key performers for the side. The Aussie all-rounder scored 352 runs in 17 matches and also picked up 13 wickets as DC reached their maiden IPL final, where they lost to the Mumbai Indians.
"From the moment he turned up at the IPL, having come straight from England ... he was pretty keen to show me improvements that he'd made. And his first few net sessions, I could just tell then," Ponting was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
"Having spent a fair bit of time with him over the past couple of years, what I saw from him at the IPL suggests to me that he's a five times better player than he was 12 months ago," Ponting added.
Before IPL 2020, Marcus Stoinis was also in record breaking form in the Big Bash League (BBL) 2019-20. He smashed 705 runs for the Melbourne Stars, which included the highest individual score of 147 not out against Sydney Sixers at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Marcus Stoinis a much improved player against spin: Ricky Ponting
According to Ponting, Marcus Stoinis has worked really hard on his play against spin bowling as that was one of the things that slowed him down a bit in the past.
“When he's had to go out and start against quality spin, he hasn't had the options to rotate the strike as much as he would like. He's a lot more positive and aggressive against spin bowling now," the former Australia skipper said.
Ponting further claimed that even the best spinners in the world could not tie up Marcus Stoinis in the IPL.
“If they over-pitched, he'd hit them straight back down the ground first ball. If they were a little bit short, he was happy to go back and pull them for six first ball. He's a lot more confident in his own game and he's done a lot of work on trying to get better at starting his innings, whether that's against fast bowling or spin bowling," Ponting asserted.
Having tasted success in IPL 2020, Marcus Stoinis will be keen to carry on his good work in the ODIs and T20Is against India.
Australia and India will face-off in three ODIs and as many T20Is before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, which will feature four Test matches.
The India-Australia series will kick off with the first ODI in Sydney on November 27.