ENG vs AUS | Australia will give Marcus Stoinis longer run in an MS Dhoni-like role, reveals Pat Cummins

A part of Marcus Stoinis’ game that did not warrant him a place in the Australian 15-man squad for the 2019 World Cup was his ability to rotate strike between the wickets. While he was employed as an opener for the BBL franchise Melbourne Stars, under the watchful eye of Justin Langer and leadership of Aaron Finch, however, the all-rounder has been slotted straight into the middle-order. 

In just his first game post-return, Stoinis struggled against the English bowlers in an attempt to help Australia get past the target. Despite his failure in the opening fixture, the visiting vice-captain Pat Cummins admitted that the Melbourne all-rounder will get a longer run in the team to perform in a Dhoni-esque role for the national team. 

“It’s something we’ve spoken about for exactly that reason -- they’re all the best players when they go back to playing domestic comps,” Cummins was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald, reported Hindustan Times. 

“You could argue that middle-order role is one of the hardest in any cricket team. That’s what we’ve identified, we’ve got to give guys a go Someone like MS Dhoni, he was one of the best in the world because he played 3-400 ODI games. You saw during this week’s practice games we gave a lot of guys a go in that,” Cummins added. 

Cummins admitted that the management is ready to go the extra yard to allow these players to flourish in their roles for a longer period of time. In addition to this, the pacer also downplayed any sort of doubts on the players’ calibre after the choke job at the Rose Bowl. 

“We know it’s not going to happen overnight. That’s been a common theme that selectors and Finchy have spoken about: we’ll identify roles and give them a long run in that. I think we’ve got the right squad, the right players, it’s about getting plenty of games into everyone now,” he concluded.