Veteran Australia all-rounder Marcus Stonis has recently revealed insights into his conversations with former India captain, MS Dhoni, during IPL 2021. In a conversation with The Grade Cricketer’s YouTube channel on Wednesday, he revealed how MS Dhoni once told him about Chennai Super Kings (CSK)’s plans for him, which was both a compliment and a “little dig” to him, but he took it as praise as well.
He said: “He was actually very honest with me. He understood me very well and he sort of said how they (CSK) would try to bowl to me and how he tried to set the fields for me. [It] was both a compliment but also a little dig where I have to figure out which way to take it and I’m taking it as a compliment (chuckles).”
Marcus Stoinis further added: “It was very interesting he did say that it’s very obvious how some people want to take some responsibility and stay until the end whereas some people are willing to take the risk early to, sort of, either try and get ahead of the game or walk off and he identifies that within the team. Like for me, I am trying to get there towards the end. So he (Dhoni) is just squeezing me at the start until he gets the idea, that “Alright, he (Stoinis) is ready to go, I am going to move them (the fielders) back sort of a thing.”
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“Whereas with other guys he won’t do that because he’s like “I know they are going to hit at the start so I am going to let them either win the game or get out”. And he then sort of spoke about his philosophy on that and what he tries to do,” he continued.
However, both MS Dhoni and Marcus Stoinis have played against each other several times in the IPL. Both their teams met last time during this year’s Qualifier 1 where Stoinis didn’t play due to an injury but Dhoni played an all-important cameo (18 off 6) to take his side to the final as well.
Along with in-field tactics, Marcus Stoinis also revealed that he also had a discussion about off-field training and putting in the spadework with MS Dhoni. And, the former captain advised him to work on weaknesses which worked as a ‘filter’ for his training sessions as well.
He again shared: “We spoke about training, we spoke about his belief on ‘Work on your weakness as long as it’s not taking anything away from your strength’. So he spoke about how a lot of coaches will ask you to work on things and you might work on the short ball and then you start missing the full ball… which was a really, really nice filter for me for training.”
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However, Marcus Stoinis is currently in the UAE where he has been playing for Australia in the T20 World Cup. On the other hand, MS Dhoni is with the India team as a team mentor. “He said the main thing for him was how he controls his breathing and heart rate and that’s what he focusses on to allow him to access his skills because he trusts himself that he’s done the work,” Marcus Stoinis concluded.
