IPL has literally been career changing for me: Marcus Stoinis

Marcus Stoinis is currently in the form of his life. He has been the valuable all-rounder for Australia in the limited-overs format and recently also earned his maiden Test call-up. Though he wasn’t picked in the final XI, Stoinis is definitely under the radar of the selectors in the longest format as well. However, Stoinis has credited all this progress in his career over the last few months to his stint in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

He has rubbed the shoulders with the likes of Gary Kirsten and Yuvraj Singh while playing for the Delhi Daredevils (now Delhi Capitals) and recalls picking their cricketing minds. In the upcoming season, Stoinis has been snaffled by the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in a trading window and the cricketer is looking forward to playing with AB de Villiers and 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. 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 was quoted as saying by The Age.

I remember having a beer with him

Marcus Stoinis admires AB de Villiers a lot and is his favourite cricketer along with Jacques Kallis. He still remembers the way the South African superstar (De Villiers) had made him comfortable after the match against Delhi a few years ago.

“For me, the IPL has literally been career changing. 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. 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,” the 29-year-old added.

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