Stoinis admits to 'empty feeling' after another effort in vain

Stoinis took Australia to the brink in their chase of 251, but became the ninth man  dismissed, at the start of the last over, as Australia fell short by eight runs. It was
Stoinis’ sixth ODI fifty to go alongside an unbeaten 146 in his second ODI more than  two years ago – his only century in the format – and Australia have lost all seven games.

"Just a bit of an empty feeling coming to the end of the game," Stoinis said on  Thursday, ahead of the third ODI here. “We did well, fought hard, got close, but we  didn't get the result we wanted.

“We haven’t had a debrief yet. I think we’ll do that after we get off the plane. When  emotions are going, it’s probably best to let that settle, then have a more relaxed  conversation the next day,” he said.

Stoinis was saddled with an onerous task in Nagpur. He walked in at 132 for 4 in the  29th over of a chase of 251. His partnerships with Peter Handscomb and Alex Carey were both ended just when they were starting to flourish. It left him batting with the lower order, facing a required rate of nearly seven on a slow and low pitch, and dealing with three overs from Jasprit Bumrah at the death, an ICC report said.

His job was made harder when Bumrah struck twice in the 46th over. When he came  back for the 48th, Australia needed 21 off 18 balls. Stoinis chose to play Bumrah out,  taking just a single off the last ball of the over. But it left Australia with too much to get  too late.

“The plan was changing as we lost a few wickets and as they brought different bowlers  back that I did not expect them to bring back as early,” Stoinis said.

“I thought if we didn’t lost two wickets in Bumrah’s second-last over, then he would  have been saved for the end. But then he came back again. I thought if we lose another  wicket here, then that’s the end of the game. So I thought it’s better to take it deep and  see what happens at the end rather than lose it with three overs left,” he said.

Stoinis hoped to learn something from the two supreme finishers in the opposition, MS Dhoni and Virat Kohli. Dhoni sealed a tight chase in the first ODI in the company of Kedar Jadhav, while Kohli batted deep into India’s innings in Nagpur, notching up  his 40th ODI century as he set India up for victory.

“Virat and MS play very different roles, but they make sure they get the job done for the team,” Stoinis said. “Two of the best players in the world, so there’s things to learn from them, and it’s probably fortunate we’re playing them so frequently leading up to a World Cup.”

Image Credit: ICC Twitter