The team is definitely better when he's doing well, says Stoinis while praising Shikhar Dhawan.
Delhi Capitals (DC) all-rounder Marcus Stoinis was elated after his team’s 6-wicket victory over Punjab Kings (PBKS) on Sunday (April 18) in the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL 2021) in Mumbai.
After winning the toss, Delhi Capitals (DC) asked Punjab Kings (PBKS) to bat first at the Wankhede Stadium and their openers Mayank Agarwal (69 off 36 balls) and KL Rahul (61 off 51 balls) gave them a dream start, but DC managed to restrict the PBKS to 195/4 in 20 over on Sunday.
Chasing the target, Shikhar Dhawan’s magnificent knock of 92 runs off 49 balls put DC in the front seat while the valuable contributions from Prithvi Shaw (32 off 17 balls) and Stoinis (27* off 13 balls) took Delhi over the line with 10 balls to spare and 6 wickets in hands against the PBKS in Mumbai.
After his team’s second win off three games, the Australian all-rounder said DC did a really good job to keep PBKS under the 200-run mark in their last IPL 2021 game while hailing Dhawan for his batting efforts in Mumbai on Sunday.
Stoinis told host broadcaster Star Sports: “It's nice to get into the tournament, pretty important for us to win. It's only early in the season but every game here feels so important. At the 10-over mark, we were trying to keep them under 250, we did well to keep them under 200. The focus is always to start well and then the simple cliches of cricket - good partnerships and then leave it up to the finishers in the end.”
Hailing Dhawan, the all-rounder said: “Shikhar is brilliant, he has carried on his form last year, he's really hungry for runs. Two games ago, he started the season so well and he's backed it up today. The team is definitely better when he's doing well. It's important to get into the tournament early as an individual, it is handy to hit a few off the middle.”
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He signed off by saying, “The start of the tournament is probably the time when you can try a few things. Every game feels like a final, we know that from last year, we think (after) 5-6 games, you need to have your team sorted. Not required to bowl, haven't been coming out the best, it's pretty wet out there. It is a work in progress here and we'll all be required at some stage.”
Noteworthy, Delhi Capitals will next take on Mumbai Indians on Tuesday (April 20) at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai in the ongoing IPL 14.
(With ANI Inputs)