Stoinis: 'Familiarity with Indian condition helps'

"I've played in the IPL and come here for the 'A' tour (in 2015). We've got an Indian coach Sridharan Sriram (spin consultant) there, and I've been working closely with him. So, that all helps," Marcus Stoinis, who hammered 76 runs and then tormented the Board President's XI batsmen with figures of 4-0-13-1, said.

The 28-year-old made his limited-overs debut against England in 2015, but has played only three ODIs and one Twenty20 ever since.

All-rounder Marcus Stoinis' mercurial performance with bat and ball anchored Australia's convincing 103-run victory over Board President's XI in the one-off practice game at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium today.

Stoinis, who plays for Kings XI Punjab in the Indian Premier League, acknowledged that familiarity with the local conditions has had a significant impact on his game. "I think being exposed to conditions obviously helped," he said. "I've played in the IPL and come here for the 'A' tour (in 2015). We've got an Indian coach Sridharan Sriram (spin consultant) there, and I've been working closely with him. So, that all helps."

Australia is all set to kick-start its limited-overs campaign with the first ODI scheduled in Chennai. And the visiting side can take a few positives out of Tuesday's thumping win. "Quite a few boys made good runs, and in terms of spinners, Ashton Agar bowled beautifully," said Stoinis, who blasted 76 runs before tormenting the Board President's XI batsmen with figures of 4-0-13-1.

READ: Mighty Australia tames BP XI in warm-up tie

"I think it's about getting an understanding of the conditions, what lengths you want to bowl and where they (batsmen) are trying to hit the ball. All the spinners bowled well and all of them will get something out of it individually."

The 28-year-old made his limited-overs debut against England in 2015, but has played only three ODIs and one Twenty20 ever since. Asked if he felt hard done by the selectors, Stoinis said, "No, not really. There are a lot of people in the same position who haven't played, or haven't been selected for a while.

"In every series, there are people that are hard done by. Obviously, I'm ready to go and I have been wanting to play," he said.

"But for one reason or another, selection doesn't go your way but that happens in every single series; happened between the last Test series in India and the next Test series in Bangladesh.

"Selection's tough and not quite a lot of us understand what's going on (laughs)."

Stoinis may not have played a single game for Delhi Daredevils in 2015, but from the time spent with batting coach and former India player Sridharan Sriram, he has learnt a lot. "I've been working with him for four months on the trot now, as for what we've been working on – that (2015 Australia 'A' tour) will be different from this ODI series, but for that, it was mostly (perfecting) defence in the sub-continent. Need to (tighten) your defence before you can go on to attack."

James Faulkner was a revelation during Australia's visit to India in 2013 for an ODI series, and with both he and Stoinis in the squad, captain Steve Smith will be scratching his head over who to pick. "I'm sure it's a good headache," Stoinis said. "I mean he (Faulkner) absolutely dominated in 2013 here (India), I remember watching from home. But look we're also very different all-rounders. He's probably more on the bowling side, I'm on the batting side."

"He's a left-armer and adds a lot of different aspects to the team's bowling. I'm not a selector, but maybe there's room for both," he quipped.