Despite the snub from Cricket Australia’s central contracts, Marcus Stoinis downplayed his match-winning century for the Lucknow Super Giants against Chennai Super Kings on Tuesday night as a ‘statement’ knock, but went on to emphasise his keenness to continue representing Australia beyond the forthcoming T20 World Cup in the US and the West Indies in June.

On Tuesday, Stoinis silenced a vociferous Sea of Yellow at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai by slamming an unbeaten 63-ball 124 to help Lucknow Super Giants successfully hunt down 211 and clinch a crucial six-wicket victory that propelled the KL Rahul-led side to the top four in the IPL points tally.

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Following his century at Chepauk, Stoinis was asked whether he wanted to prove a point to Cricket Australia for dropping him from the central contract for the 2024-25 season, but the 34-year-old maintained that he was only focussed on contributing to his team’s success.

Stoinis is still contracted with CA until June 30 as CA’s contracts run across the financial year, which means he could technically feature in the T20 World Cup, starting June 1. The Western Australia all-rounder has been one of the middle order mainstays of Australia’s T20I side, alongside the likes of Glenn Maxwell, Tim David and Matthew Wade.

Opening up for the first time since the contract snub, Stoinis felt it was great to give the younger players an opportunity, and he had no qualms about it.

“I’ve got a great relationship with the (Australia) coach (Andrew McDonald). Me not getting a contract, I knew that a while ago. I think it is great to give younger kids a crack and let them take my spot. I’m absolutely fine with that on the contract list,” Stoinis said on Tuesday.

At the same time, he also expressed his commitment to continue playing for Australia, and is determined to extend his international career past the T20 World Cup.

“But on the playing front, obviously want to make sure that I’m there and that’s also why it’s so lucky for us and for me particularly to have this competition (the IPL), that’s why I love it so much,” he said.

The seam-bowling all-rounder has been in constant communication with McDonald and Australia’s chairman of selectors George Bailey regarding his potential role in Australia’s future scheme of things post the T20 World Cup as they prepare for the 2025 Champions Trophy, the 2026 T20 World Cup and the 2027 ODI World Cup.

Back to Tuesday’s game, Stoinis was promoted to the No.3 spot after LSG had lost opener Quinton de Kock on the third delivery of the chase, allowing the Australian to build the innings. As a result, Stoinis smashed six sixes and 13 fours during his unbeaten knock that helped his side register their second win over CSK in IPL 2024.

“In this competition, there are plenty of better opening batters than me, so I’ll let them do their job. It is nice to get in early and build an innings but I have settled in the middle order,” he said while analysing his knock.

“There was ebb and flow in the whole innings. There were some bowlers we wanted to target, some that we played more cautiously against,” he added before signing off.