Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis is doubtful for their 2023 ICC Men’s World Cup campaign opener against hosts India, scheduled to be played on October 8 in Chennai, after picking up a hamstring problem in the recent ODI against the hosts last month, coach Andrew McDonald has said.
Stoinis, 34, pulled up sore after Australia’s first game of the series and missed two warm-up matches of the ongoing World Cup.
“That happened after the Mohali game. He pulled up a little bit sore from that game and then further investigation obviously led to that being a slight hamstring and then he’s just rehabilitating,” McDonald told Australian media.
“It’ll be touch and go for game one. He hasn’t certainly been ruled out of that but we weren’t prepared to risk him in those practice games. So he’s being probably slow played a little bit with the view to these next couple of days being really important for him to press for selection for game one. We’ll see how it unfolds,” he added.
In the ongoing marquee event, Stoinis is one of five all-rounders in the Australia squad and all of them are expected to play crucial roles in their quest for a sixth World Cup title.
Meanwhile, McDonald said that their lone specialist spinner Adam Zampa’s workload was also being managed ahead of the long marquee event.
“He did pull up sore from the second game in the ODI series but nothing significant,” McDonald said.
On the other hand, opener Travis Head is on his way to recovery from a fractured hand and the head coach is expecting an official update on either Wednesday or Thursday.
After India, the five-time champions will be up against South Africa in Lucknow on October 12.