Smith, Warner add value to our World Cup campaign: Stoinis

BENGALURU: After a rather forgettable series for Australia against Pakistan in UAE, where he scored 16 runs in three matches, Marcus Stoinis would have expected a good run in the Indian Premier League, but the all-rounder hasn't really set the stage on fire. While his focus remains on giving his best for Royal Challengers Bangalore, Stoinis is excited about being part of the Australian side for next month's World Cup.

"At the moment, all my attention is here. The World Cup is going to be a great tournament, I think there are quite a few teams that can cause damage and win the competition. It's going to be an exciting couple of months," he said.

The defending champions line-up has been beefed up with the return of former skipper Steve Smith and David Warner to international cricket. While many have been sceptical about the impact their return will have on team equations, the 29-year-old Stoinis believes they are a great value-add to the Australian campaign.

"It's a massive boost. Also, the fact that people stepped up in the last 3-4 months and we started winning games consistently matters. It all adds to the mixture and definitely adds to a World Cup winning combination," he opined.

Dwelling on the team's resurgence after a rough patch, Stoinis who has featured in 33 ODIs since making his debut in England in 2015, explained, "Everyone is confident (going into the World Cup). Eight wins, to have them all away from home, I think is very important for us. We needed it as well. We lost a lot of games over the last year or so. It's good timing and everyone started to believe in each other and we started to play well as a team."

Pointing out that the turnaround did not happen overnight, Stoinis said it was about picking up key lessons from losses and working on it.

"From the outside it might look like all of a sudden, but I think it also shows the game of cricket is only about small minor details. Even in the time we were losing, we learnt a lot. There were a lot of close games we were losing. Even the first two we lost (to India), we had a good chance to win them. It just shows how strong the competition of cricket is all over the world, any team can win on any day. But also, the belief we have in each other. It's come a long way to help us."

ON SHARING THE DRESSING ROOM WITH KOHLI

"I have known Virat for a while. So, it's probably much better playing with him than against him. I have learnt quite a bit from him as well. His passion definitely rubs off on everyone in the change room. He is very clear, very determined, he knows what he wants to do. So, it's good to watch one of the best in the world, or one of the best of all time to go about his stuff."