T20 World Cup 2022: Stoinis admits Australia's title-defence is in jeopardy

Marcus Stoinis and Virat Kohli (Source: Twitter)

Australia crashed to a humiliating defeat in the T20 World Cup 2022 opener against their Trans-Tasman rivals New Zealand. 

The Kiwis picked up a 89-run win over the hosts and are now in a formidable position for the rest of the tournament. 

Meanwhile, the Aussies are now left needing to win their remaining four matches to make it to the semi-finals of the tournament. 

Reflecting on the same, Marcus Stoinis revealed to the Sydney Morning Herald that Australia's title defence hangs in the balance and the players will have to get it right in their next few outings if they are to launch a proper title defence this year. 

“It does leave us in a position where other people might be in control. But if we go through and we’ve only lost one game and we don’t make it, I think we can probably, to a certain extent, be okay with that. But for now, the next focus is Sri Lanka.”

New Zealand had posted a total of 200 for the loss of three wickets thanks to impressive knocks from Devon Conway and Finn Allen, but the hosts were bundled out for 111. 

Stoinis believes that Australia have been under this kind of pressure before and they tend to perform well with their backs to wall. It remains to be seen whether the Aussies can bounce back strongly with a statement win over Sri Lanka on Tuesday, in Perth. 

“We know that we’ve performed under pressure. We know that when our backs are against the wall we can pull out the performances we want."

Meanwhile, New Zealand will be riding high on their recent win and they will be hoping to produce a similar performance against Afghanistan. 

Also Read: T20 World Cup 2022: Virat Kohli reflects on his 'different' role as a batsman