Marcus Stoinis has had a dazzling, eventful but eventually concerning day in the Indian Premier League as his latest matchwinning display for Lucknow Super Giants ended with an injury.
The Australian international allrounder had enjoyed another barnstorming outing on Friday, smashing 72 runs off just 40 balls and then taking the key early Punjab Kings wicket, going on to lift the player of the match award in Lucknow's emphatic 56-run win.
But his brilliant display was marred during the second over of his bowling spell when he tried to stop an Atharva Taide drive in his follow-through and took a blow to his left index finger.
In evident agony, he fell to his knees and, after physio treatment, had to leave the field.
While later collecting his second player of the match award in the 2023 season - the only Australian to have won multiple awards in this campaign - a rueful Stoinis looked at his bandaged finger and admitted: "It's all right, it's been better ... we will get it scanned later."
He will be hoping he'll get the all-clear to continue what has become a scintillating campaign for the big hitter, who played the exhilarating lead role in Lucknow piling up 5-257 at Mohali - the second biggest total in the tournament's history - after they had been invited to bat.
"We were joking about the difference between here and our surface at home (in Lucknow) and how we had to cash in on this beautiful batting wicket," said Stoinis, after his side finished just six runs shy of the IPL record total of 5-263 set 10 years ago by Royal Challengers Bangalore.
"It was good fun."
But not for the Kings' attack. Coming in at No.4, Stoinis clubbed six fours and five sixes in his fearsome knock before finally being dismissed by England's Sam Curran.
With Kyle Mayers cracking 54 from 24, Nicholas Pooran 45 off 19 and Ayush Badoni 43 from 24, Lucknow hit 41 boundaries off their 120 balls - also the second-most by any team in an IPL innings.
Asked afterwards if he enjoyed batting higher up the order, Stoinis smiled: "I do enjoy the responsibility of batting a bit lower and seeing the game home as well.
"Part of my journey has been bat in every position, bowl first over, bowl last over, mix and match, so I'm happy to do whatever the team needs."
In the first over of Punjab's innings, Stoinis did exactly what the team needed, picking up the key wicket of captain Shikhar Dhawan, who charged him only to hole out with a cut to point.
The Australian did then take some stick, getting clouted for 21 off his 11 deliveries before injury struck.
Yet Punjab never looked like getting near their target, despite a fluent 66 off 36 balls from Taide, eventually capitulating for 201 off the penultimate ball of their reply.
The win has put Lucknow into a four-way share of the lead at the top of the standings on 10 points, with Rajasthan still prevailing with the best net run-rate.
