Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis is “touch-and-go” for their World Cup opener against India on the weekend after picking up a hamstring problem last month, coach Andrew McDonald said on Thursday.
The 34-year-old pulled up sore after Australia’s first ODI of their 2-1 series defeat to India and missed two warm-up matches, with uncertainty over his fitness before Sunday’s opener in Chennai.
“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.”
McDonald said Adam Zampa’s workload was also being mointored. “He did pull up sore from the second game in the series but nothing significant,” he said. Reuters
Focus stays on Ashwin
Chennai: Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin went through an engaging net session here on Thursday giving enough indication that his place in the playing XI looks certain.
India open against Australia on Sunday.
Ashwin could be included as the third spinner behind Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav considering a gripping pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium.
He has enjoyed considerable success against David Warner and Steve Smith.
Ashwin has dismissed Warner 11 times in Tests.
Smith, a consistent run-scorer in ODIs, too had his struggles against the off-spinner, especially in Tests.
PTI
