“Priceless”: AB de Villiers Deduces Marcus Stoinis as Difference Between Lucknow and Mumbai at Ekana Sports City

Legendary South Africa and Royal Challengers Bangalore cricketer AB de Villiers considers all-rounder Marcus Stoinis as the difference between Lucknow Super Giants and Mumbai Indians in the recently concluded Indian Premier League 2023 match at the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium.

Third this season, Stoinis’ seventh IPL half-century saw him scoring a career-best 89* (47) with the help of four fours and eight sixes. While an innings at a strike rate of 189.36 isn’t unusual for a hard-hitting batter such as Stoinis, what makes this knock a cut above the rest is it coming at a pitch which hasn’t allowed batters to express themselves throughout IPL 2023.

The 33-year old player changing gears from scoring 45* (35) at one point in time to thrashing 44* (12) in the last three overs was a main reason behind the home team being able to amass 54 runs between overs 18-20.

AB de Villiers Deduces Marcus Stoinis as Difference Between LSG and MI

Having watched Super Giants winning by a slender 5-run margin towards the end, de Villiers took to social media platform Twitter to have no inhibitions about lauding Stoinis. Had Stoinis not played the kind of innings he played tonight, there were high chances of Indians sealing a run-chase considering how even a 150-run target was considered to be above par at this venue before the start of the match.

“The value of an ‘in batter’ being there for the last 3/4 overs- priceless! I say it again, difference between winning and losing,” de Villiers tweeted.

With LSG losing their top-order within 6.1 overs, Stoinis and captain Krunal Pandya (49 & 0/27) shared a game-changing 61-ball 82-run partnership for the third wicket before the latter had to retire hurt. Stoinis, who made it a point to convert his innings into something substantial, has now become the highest run-scorer (368 runs at a strike rate of 151.44 ) for his team in the ongoing 16th season of the IPL.

Modest Marcus Stoinis Credits Team Effort for Victory

Readers must note that Star Sports Network commentator Sanjay Manjrekar also pointed out how Stoinis was the difference between the two teams. A modest Stoinis, however, credited a collective performance not only for a win against Mumbai but for them doing well throughout the season.

“Look, I don’t know. It was close obviously. There are a lot of little things which go your way throughout a game.”

Apart from crediting pacer Mohsin Khan (1/26) for defending 11 runs in the last over against the likes of Tim David (32*) and Cameron Green (4*), Stoinis was also appreciative of Pandya, head coach Andy Flower and mentor Gautam Gambhir behind the success of the franchise.