IPL 2019 News: Stoinis opens up on playing alongside Kohli and de Villiers at RCB

Stoinis opens up on playing alongside Kohli: The Australian all-rounder sounded excited for his maiden season at RCB.

Having played three seasons of the Indian Premier League for Kings XI Punjab, Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis will represent Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2019 after he was swapped for India batsman Mandeep Singh even before the auction for this season.

In a recent interview with The Age, Stoinis talked about his time at Delhi Capitals (earlier Daredevils) and claimed the cash-rich league to be “career-changing” for him. “For me, the IPL has literally been career-changing,” Stoinis was quoted.

“I first went there to Delhi about four years ago, I had Gary Kirsten as a coach, I played with guys like Quinton de Kock and Yuvraj Singh. I remember having a beer with AB de Villiers after we played Bangalore.

“It just opens up a thousand more doors and ideas you didn’t have, things you had never thought of or learned, just the way you thought about the game, Indian conditions, playing spin. People talk about the money, but what it did for my cricket, it’s accelerated my growth tenfold,” Stoinis said.

Hailing former South African captains in AB de Villiers and Jacques Kallis as ‘best cricketers’, Stoinis was wax lyrical about the duo, particularly de Villiers.

“I was about 24 or 25 at the time and AB was at his absolute peak and someone who I think is the best cricketer. In my eyes, it’s him and Jacques Kallis. AB’s stats might not have been as good in terms of averages, but the way he took the game forward, his innovations, all those things, they can’t be measured on an Excel spreadsheet,” he added.

On being asked about his upcoming stint at Royal Challengers, Stoinis didn’t shy away from saying that he will be eager to grasp as much knowledge s possible from de Villiers and captain Virat Kohli. “AB and Virat will be the two I’ll be spending my time with and getting as much gold as I can from them in terms of knowledge,” he further added.

On the back of his consistent form in Australian domestic circuit, Stoinis recently earned his maiden Test call-up. Being asked about his potential debut during the Ashes later this year, the 29-year old all-rounder said that the same would be pretty special.

“The way I see it, it’s been a lifelong dream to play Test cricket for Australia, especially in an Ashes series. I feel like hopefully, the stars are aligning in terms of me making my debut against England in their home series after a World Cup. It would be pretty special. But that’s getting ahead of myself,” Stoinis concluded.