Marcus Stoinis was left gutted after the Australian all-rounder received the ‘horrible news’ from Punjab Kings coach Ricky Ponting just before their home game against Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Tuesday. Stoinis, who played all the five matches so far in IPL 2025, was warming up at the new PCA stadium in Chandigarh, knowing that he would be playing against KKR.
However, it was just before the toss that Ponting came up to him and informed that John Inglis has been handed his Punjab Kings debut replacing Stoinis, the visuals of which went viral on social media.
“They must have deliberated a great deal about the team. This looks like the decision was taken right here at the ground. Stoinis has his gloves and bat there. He is just getting the bad news there. Horrible news. It’s tough to drop anyone,” said former Zimbabwe cricketer Pommie Mbangwa at the commentary box.
So far, in five matches, Stoinis managed 59 runs. The decision also shocked Simon Doull, who was also commentating alongside Mbangwa. “Is he injured? Did Shreyas Iyer say anything about Stoinis being injured? If he is not injured, that’s astounding,” Doull said.
PBKS vs KKR playing XIs
Punjab Kings: Priyansh Arya, Prabhsimran Singh (wk), Shreyas Iyer (c), Nehal Wadhera, Josh Inglis, Shashank Singh, Glenn Maxwell, Marco Jansen, Xavier Bartlett, Arshdeep Singh, Yuzvendra Chahal.
Kolkata Knight Riders: Quinton de Kock (wk), Sunil Narine, Ajinkya Rahane (c), Venkatesh Iyer, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Harshit Rana, Vaibhav Arora, Anrich Nortje, Varun Chakaravarthy
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