Courtesy: X
Former Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has returned to the Punjab Kings (PBKS) camp after seven years as the franchise fetched him for INR 11 Crore at the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 auction, held in Jeddah in November 2024. Back in 2016, Stoinis started his IPL career with Punjab and went on to serve the team for three seasons from 2016 to 2018. During his three-year stint, he racked up 262 runs and scalped 13 wickets in 19 matches. In 2019, Punjab parted ways with him and following that he was seen playing for Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) in the 12th season. From 2022 to 2024, he donned Lucknow Super Giants’ (LSG) jersey and won several games for the team with his all-round effort.
The veteran Aussie all-rounder will be vital for PBKS in all departments of the game. Ahead of PBKS’ IPL 2025 opening encounter against Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad, Stoinis spoke to PTI and reminisced how he started his IPL career with Punjab. He also expressed his love for the distinguished league and said he is accustomed to PBKS’ environment.
"Yeah, it's exciting. I mean, I've obviously played for Punjab before. It was my second year in the IPL that I moved to here. So yeah, it's all familiar. I love the IPL. I've been here, I don't know, you might know, but I think at least 10 years as part of the IPL. So it's a competition that I absolutely love. It's a mainstay in the calendar. It's something we all look forward to and personally I look forward to. So yeah, it's exciting to have the opportunity to bring some success to this franchise,” said Stoinis.
Will Stonis open for PBKS? Stoinis reacts on his role in PBKS
Stoinis also replied to the question about his role in the PBKS’ squad. As the interview was conducted five days back, he said the plan was yet to be revealed by the team management. However, the 35-year-old said he is highly likely to be seen batting in the middle order but there might be a chance for him to bat at the top-order.
“We haven't quite got there, but usually it's pretty self-explanatory for myself in terms of, like you said, I've been around for a while now. So I know batting most likely in the middle somewhere. There might be opportunity, as we know, to bat up the top. It's all things that I'm sure they're going to sort out and then we're going to talk about as a team or as individuals. But yeah, that's what these next, we've still got about five days, I think, before our first game. So that's what we'll be sorting out, I guess," said Stoinis on his role in PBKS.
