Last Updated on 1 month by Charbel Coorey
It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that Marcus Stoinis is one of the most explosive all-rounders of this era. Melbourne Stars recently appointed him as their new skipper. As the star all-rounder has now taken the captaincy duties from Glenn Maxwell, a lot is expected from him. Moreover, as the Stars are yet to win a BBL title, Stoinis would want to break the jinx, and lead the Melbourne-based franchise to their maiden triumph.
An important point to be noted is that the Stoinis-led side played the season opener without some of their star players like Glenn Maxwell, Ben Duckett and Usama Mir. While the former Stars skipper is yet to recover from his injuries, Duckett and Mir have their international and domestic commitments respectively before eventually joining the men in green.
During an exclusive interview with Arvind Kalyana Krishnan, Marcus Stoinis drew light on Melbourne Stars’ batting lineup for this season. He expressed his excitement over the prospect of having Ben Duckett in their side. Duckett has been participating in the three-match Test series in New Zealand and thus, hasn’t joined the Melbourne-based franchise just yet.
Further on, while speaking to Arvind Kalyana Krishnan during a media presser in Melbourne, Stoinis expressed his happiness over being picked by the Punjab Kings during the recently-concluded IPL 2025 Auction. He was excited to reunite with Ricky Ponting once again. Stoinis was with Ponting at the Delhi Capitals in 2020 and 2021. The all-rounder also stated that Ponting managed to get the best out of him and thus, was looking forward to representing the Punjab-based franchise in IPL 2025.
As for the Indian T20 league, Stoinis has been one of the best all-rounders over there for quite a while now. His exploits for Lucknow Super Giants during the previous editions prompted Punjab Kings to fetch him during the auction.
Keen to join Ricky Ponting at Punjab Kings – Marcus Stoinis
Below is the video and transcript of the Stoinis interview.
Arvind Kalyana Krishnan: As far as Ben Duckett is concerned, he’s been in amazing form. So how excited are you to have him?
Marcus Stoinis: Yeah, we’re excited to have him obviously. He was our first pick and he’s going to play a big role there for us at the top of the order. So we got Joe Clarky right now and then Benny Duckett is gonna come and fill that space when he’s available. He’s been very consistent. He’s come into his own. He hits the ball into different areas, he brings a different aspect to our team as well. He hits the ball behind the wicket, and plays spin very well so yeah, there’s a reason he was our first pick and we’re excited to have him.
Arvind Kalyana Krishnan: And Punjab picked you during the IPL auction. So how excited are you to work with Ricky Ponting again?
Marcus Stoinis: Yeah, Ricky’s my man (smiles). It’s no secret for the cricket circles that I’ve enjoyed working with him…..on a few occasions, and he’s got the best out of me, so that’s exciting. Also exciting that we’ve got a lot of Aussie boys there and a lot of teammates that I’ve played with in Western Australia and Australia, so the setup looks good. It’s a new team for me and it’s a chance to bring some silverware home for a team that hasn’t won anything yet either.
Melbourne Stars lost their first match away to Perth Scorchers to kick off BBL 14. They have a quick turnaround as they host the defending champions Brisbane Heat at the MCG on Wednesday, December 18.
