India vs Australia 2017: We Have To Score A Lot Of Runs In This Series, Says Marcus Stoinis
Sep 12, 2017 at 9:30 PM
After the thumping 103-run in the warm-up game against Board President’s XI on Tuesday (September 12), Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis admitted the visitors would have to ‘score a lot of runs’ in the upcoming five-match series against the formidable Indian batting line-up.
Virat Kohli & Co. are in sizzling form at the moment after the historic 5-0 whitewash in Sri Lanka. The Men in Blue batted only once in the five-match series and scored a massive 375 while chased down the 200-plus total in the other games with considerable ease. India’s top-order- Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, and Virat Kohli starred with the bat while the middle order batsmen- MS Dhoni and Manish Pandey also looked in good form. And looking at India’s current form, Stoinis is under no illusion that his team will have to put up big totals on the scoreboard.
“I think we have to score a lot of runs in this series. They (India) are batting really well. I think heavy runs, 350 it will be for sure,” he said.
“All of them are a big threat. Every single one of them are great players, very good players,” he added.
Australia, meanwhile, began the tour on the best possible note as they scored a mammoth 347 for 7 in the warm-up game before bowling the home side for 244.
When asked about the positives from the match, Stoinis mentioned the batsmen’s good performance and spinner Ashton Agar’s bowling who took for 4 for 44.
“Positives with the bat is, the batters made good runs early and in terms of spinners, Ashton Agar bowled beautifully. Just understanding the conditions and the lengths one has to bowl,” he said.
“Obviously, being exposed to conditions helped. Also, working with (Sridharan) Sriram has been good. Sriram and I get on well together. We were in Delhi together during my first IPL and it is good for me,” added Stoinis who scored 76 off 60 balls.
Stoinis further said that the competition between him and James Faulkner to fill the all-rounder’s slot in the playing eleven is a real headache for the team.
“It is a good headache to have. However, James Faulkner and myself are different types of all-rounders. I am a batting all-rounder and he is probably more on the bowling side and a left-armer and brings a different aspect to the team’s bowling. It is upto the selectors,” he said.