Marcus Stoinis proved his worth once again as he exhibited an astounding all-round performance to help Australia beat Oman by 39 runs in their ICC Men's T20 World Cup campaign opener at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.
Stoinis scored a quick-fire 67* off 36 balls to pull Australia out of a hole alongside a composed David Warner. Australia were in trouble at 50/3 in 8.3 overs after being put into bat first and it needed a flawless rescue act which came from Stoinis and Warner.
Warner and Stoinis added 102 runs for the fourth wicket in just 62 balls and propelled Australia to 152 in 18.5 overs before Kaleemullah got rid of the Australian opener. The southpaw scored 56 off 51 balls and batted almost throughout the course of their innings to assist Stoinis in the middle.
The veteran Aussie opener also went past Aaron Finch to become the all-time leading run-scorer for Australia in the T20I format during his innings. Warner, 37, scaled yet another illustrious milestone as he went past Chris Gayle of West Indies to register the most fifty-plus scores (111) in T20 cricket history.
While Warner held one end together, Stoinis went berserk at the other end and helped Australia put the pressure back on Oman. Stoinis smashed two fours and six sixes during his enterprising knock and batted at a strike rate of 186.11 to provide the much-needed impetus to Australia's innings.
Right-arm medium pacer Mehran Khan was the pick of all the Oman bowlers. He finished with figures of 2/38 in his four overs. The chase began on a poor note for Oman as they lost half their side with just 56 runs on the board in 11.5 overs.
Ayaan Khan (36 runs off 30 balls) and Mehran (27 off 16 deliveries) showed a bit of power-hitting muscle towards the end of Australia's innings but it was never going to be enough. Stoinis bagged a three-wicket haul (3/19) and was fittingly awarded the Player of the Match (POTM).
