IPL 2020: 'Hopefully Shikhar Dhawan has a big one left in him for the final' - Marcus Stoinis on the southpaw's performances for the Delhi Capitals

Delhi Capitals all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has expressed hope that Shikhar Dhawan will continue his rich vein of form and come up with a big knock in the IPL 2020 final against the Mumbai Indians.

He made this observation in the post-match press conference after the franchise's maiden entry in the IPL finals following their win against the Sunrisers Hyderabad in Qualifier 2.

Marcus Stoinis lauded Shikhar Dhawan for his stupendous performances for the Delhi Capitals throughout IPL 2020.

"Shikhar has been unbelievable. He has made some big hundreds. And even in the games he has missed out, he has really timed the ball well and usually he has hit a good shot unfortunately to a fielder."

He added that the Delhi Capitals opener has been the shining beacon in their batting order and has been imparting a lot of knowledge to his team members.

"He has really led the way for us this year, he is a leader within our team, brings a lot of energy, shares a lot of knowledge. He has been really good to me through this time in the IPL, so I am really proud of him."

The Aussie expressed hope that Dhawan would come up with a big match-winning knock for the Delhi Capitals in the all-important final as well.

"I think he has scored something like 600 runs this season and hopefully he has a big one left in him for the final."

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Marcus Stoinis on his all-round performance for the Delhi Capitals in yesterday's encounter

Marcus Stoinis dished out an all-round performance for the Delhi Capitals [P/C: iplt20.com]

Marcus Stoinis was also asked about him having opened the batting for the Delhi Capitals in yesterday's encounter. He responded that Ricky Ponting had given him a hint that he might be batting at the top of the order, and expressed happiness about the plan having come good.

"Ricky had spoken to me a couple of times about the possibility of opening the batting. It just worked out that during this game this was the time to do it. We tried it once earlier when I batted three. But it didn't come off, we were chasing around 220. Fortunately, it worked tonight."

Talking about his bowling effort in the Delhi Capitals' defence of the target, Stoinis mentioned that his intention was only to restrict the batsmen and not to go in search of wickets.

"Bowling in this format is always hard. I think it is also important to stick to your own strengths and just be clear. In T20, you are not exactly trying to take a wicket but trying to control the run rate and build some pressure which then leads to wickets."

Dream11 GameChanger of #Qualifier2 between @DelhiCapitals and @SunRisers is Marcus Stoinis.@Dream11 #YeApnaGameHai #Dream11IPL pic.twitter.com/ME5Lp1cDFV

— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) November 8, 2020

Shikhar Dhawan's knock and Marcus Stoinis' all-round performance helped the Delhi Capitals reach their maiden IPL final.

While Dhawan played a 78-run knock at the top of the order, Stoinis provided the early momentum to the Delhi Capitals innings with a quickfire 38 runs and then followed that up with three crucial wickets with the ball.

One more step to go 💙 https://t.co/P0qZpkgEKZ

— Delhi Capitals (Tweeting from 🇦🇪) (@DelhiCapitals) November 8, 2020