Marcus Stoinis' composure under pressure made the difference: Matthew Wade

Marcus Stoinis finished with 40 from 31 balls, providing quality support to Matthew Wade who smashed 41 runs off just 17 deliveries.

Marcus Stoinis did the damage late on for Australia (Image Credit: Twitter)
By Arnab Mukherji | Nov 13, 2021 | 3 Min Read follow icon Follow Us

Australian cricketer Matthew Wade refused to take the credit for Australia’s triumph against Pakistan recently in a wildly fluctuating semi-final. Wade instead deflected the praise to Marcus Stoinis, despite smashing three consecutive sixes which helped the nation pull off an important win. The batter’s big hits were recorded against Shaheen Afridi, who has been one of Pakistan’s best batters in the ongoing T20 World Cup 2021. Wade believes that Stoinis’ heroics against Haris Rauf made the difference.

“The way Marcus Stoinis batted was probably the turning point”

“I don’t think any of them [the drop and missed run-out chances] were the turning points of the match. I think the way Marcus Stoinis batted at the end, to be honest, was probably the turning point of the match. I think when I came out there, he might have hit the spinner [Shadab Khan] for six, the first ball when I got out there. I think that kind of play, in my eyes, he’s really gutsy in those decisions that you make out in the middle, win you games. He could’ve easily blocked that ball he went for, hit a six and then that total comes down a little bit more,” Wade said at the post-match press conference as quoted by Cricinfo.

“But I think the turning point of the game I thought was Marcus’s over against Rauf. I thought that kind of swung the momentum our way and gave us an opportunity to win the game. It’s just an easy thing to do to focus in on missed chances. Yes, maybe it would have gone down late in the last over, but I’m still confident we could have gone home.”

“To be able to bat with Marcus has been awesome”

Wade was full of praise for Stoinis, hailing his confidence as a prime factor.

“It’s confidence, I think. Confidence in your ability to be able to finish the game. To be able to bat with Marcus has been awesome. Obviously [I’ve] played a lot of cricket with him at Victoria and early on in his career. Obviously saw him grow into the cricketer he is today. To go out and bat with him certainly gives you a lot of confidence. I know if I can just hang with him for four or five overs, then he’s going to find the boundary. He’s too good and strong not to. So, the reason that me and him are working well towards the back end is we know each other’s game so much,” he said.

“In the optional sessions, the day before the game, you’ll find me and Steve Smith and Marcus Stoinis go down again in closed sessions because we haven’t got a lot of match practice. It’s been invaluable to see what those guys are doing in training, especially Stoiny, work out his strengths, when he’s hitting the ball at his best. And he can see me do exactly the same thing,” added Wade.

“Just wanted to do well”

The Australian cricketer refused to discuss his career, instead indicating a desire to simply help Australia enjoy success.

“I don’t feel like it’s on the line anymore so much because I’m not 23 anymore. And if this is it, this is it. It’s not really on the line for me. It’s going to be all over, I suppose. A little bit, I think… I was a little bit nervous coming into the game and knowing potentially it could be the last opportunity to represent Australia. I just wanted to do well and really wanted us to win this game, give us an opportunity to win the whole thing. We have a great bunch of guys in that dressing room and guys that I have played with for a long, long period of time,” said Wade.





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