Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis, who is currently representing his trade for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in the ongoing India Premier League (IPL), believes that the IPL 2019 is the best preparation for the upcoming ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.

While terming IPL as the strongest competition in the world, Stoinis believes that the ongoing tournament is ideal preparation for the World Cup-bound players to prepare to do well against the best in business in the world, given its crowds and pressure.

As per reports in ESPNCricinfo, Stoinis said, “I don't think there is any better preparation than playing the IPL, in front of these crowds, with all the pressure and all the external factors that go on, I think IPL makes it one of the strongest competitions in the world.”

However, the right-hander isn’t sure about his batting position in the Aussie line-up, but he is assuming to play in the middle order in the 2019 World Cup.

He continued, “I don't think it (my role) will change too much. I am assuming I will be batting in the middle order, whether that's 5 or 6, I am not sure. And then with the ball, doing my stuff with the ball. We are very fortunate to have Glenn Maxwell bowling pretty well at the moment as well. I see probably myself and him sharing the overs as a fifth bowling option.”

The all-rounder also said that the entire Australian camp is really confident going into the World Cup 2019 while reckoning that they will kickstart their title defence with the utmost confidence in England.

He continued, “I think everyone is really confident [going into the World Cup]. Eight wins, to have them all away from home, I think is very important for us. We needed it as well. We lost a lot of games over the last year or so. It's good timing and I think everyone started to really believe in each other and we started playing really well as a team. It's exciting times.”

On Steve Smith and David Warner’s return, Stoinis said, “Its a massive boost. Also, the fact that people stepped up in the last three-four months and we started winning games consistently. It all adds to the mix and hopefully, it adds to a World Cup-winning combination.”

The 29-year-old explained, “From the outside, it might look like it's all of a sudden, a big shift, but I think it also shows the game of cricket is only about small minor details, small minor changes. I think even over the time we were losing, we learnt a lot, we starting getting closer in a lot of games. There were a lot of close game we were losing and then on the flip side when we started winning in India, a lot of them were close games as well. Just that we were on the other side.”

Meanwhile, the all-rounder also recalled the remarked “biggest threat” made by India captain Virat Kohli before Australia’s recent tour before IPL 2019, revealing he got the nickname 'BT' in the Australian dressing room after his comment.

Stoinis signed off by saying, “Yeah, I think the likes of Nathan Lyon and Patty (Cummins) didn't like that I was the biggest threat. I think they got a bit jealous.”

(With ESPNCricinfo Inputs)