Australia's Marcus Stoinis has emerged as one of the best finishers in white ball cricket. Marcus Stoinis had been auditioned in Australia's finisher's role several times and he had failed more than he succeeded.
But, with all the plans going out of the window due to the pandemic, Australia did not have enough time to try out new players. As it turned out, Matthew Wade and Marcus Stoinis were the designated finishers for Australia in the 2021 T20 World Cup.
However, this time around, Marcus Stoinis did not fail. Although hotel quarantine is never fun, Stoinis reckons that the time off in the hotel room all by himself was the best thing that could happen to him as he had a lot of time to mull over his game, his technique and his life which helped him tremendously in his role as the finisher in the T20 World Cup.
Let's listen in from the big Stoinis himself.
"My next phase, the way I see it, over the next three years I want to be not only the best finisher in Australia, I want to be the best finisher in the world. So that's what I've spent my time thinking about and preparing myself for. It doesn't mean that I'm going to be able to do it for the Melbourne Stars as well. It might mean the role is going to change. But I've got a great opportunity to do it with Delhi under Punter [coach Ricky Ponting], and a great opportunity in this World Cup. Whether it's in this World Cup or the next World Cup, that's up to me."
"Outside of your technique, I think that's the No. 1 thing, dedicating and controlling your mind towards that process and staying away from the outcome as much as you can. But like everything, it's a lifetime's work, you never feel like you master it. It's super humbling because you find out pretty quickly when you've gone away from it because you're walking off and you're out. We've all got a bit of fear in us. I feel like a fear of failure for me is hopefully starting to diminish - in that, to me, I'm only going to fail when I give up."
With his calm demeanor and refreshed approach, Marcus Stoinis, the finisher, helped Australia win the World Cup, and he did it in his own unique way.
