Marcus Stoinis: 10 things to know about Australia's newest star

The opening match of the Chappell-Hadlee trophy, moving towards a one-sided affair suddenly came alive when the Australian team came excruciatingly close to what could have been an incredible heist against New Zealand, recovering from 67-6 to fall short by a mere six runs in pursuit of the 286 run target. The hero of the day for them was Marcus Stoinis, a little-known all-rounder who, playing only his second ODI, blasted an unbeaten 146, but eventually fell short of partners and couldn’t take the visitors past the finishing line.

Twitter was abuzz with Stoinis’ scintillating knock that helped Australia almost pull off a stunner. He might have ended on the losing side, but he did bask during his day under the sun, on the field, and on social media.

Here are 10 things to know about the 27-year old:

#1 Before his sensational century, Stoinis played a solitary ODI for Australia, back in 2015. He scored four runs and didn’t take a single wicket.

#2 IPL fans will be aware that Stoinis was part of the Kings XI Punjab during the 2016 season, where he scored 146 runs and took seven wickets, before being forced to go back owing to personal reasons. Before this, he had been picked up by the Delhi Daredevils in 2015.

#3 He was part of the Australian team that played in the U-19 World Cup in 2008, sharing the dressing room with the likes of Steve Smith, James Faulkner and Josh Hazlewood.

#4 Born in Perth, Stoinis is of Greek descent.

#5 The unbeaten 146 was the most runs scored by a batsman in his second ODI, beating Bangladeshi batsman Anamul Haq’s record, set in 2012. He also became the first Australian to hit more than 125 runs and pick up three wickets in the same ODI.

#6 He opened with Sanath Jayasuriya for the World XI during a charity match with Nepal in August 2015. He scored 49 off 28 balls, and was adjudged the Man of the Match.

#7 He achieved the rare feat of hitting six sixes in a match while playing for the National Performance Squad against the National Indigenous squad, off the bowling of Brendan Smith during a match in Brisbane in 2015.

#8 He played for the Australian side in the Hong Kong Super Sixes, featuring in the same side as Glenn Maxwell and Josh Hazlewood in 2009.

#9 Interestingly, his car had got towed away when he got a call from chief selector Rod Marsh in 2015, telling him that he had sealed a place in the ODI team.

#10 He made his T20 debut against Melbourne Stars for the Perth Scorchers in the 2012-13 edition of the Big Bash, where he became one of Lasith Malinga’s victims during the latter’s astonishing spell of 4-1-7-6.