"Touch and go" - Andrew McDonald confirms Marcus Stoinis doubtful for IND vs AUS 2023 World Cup match

Australian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis is doubtful for their opening World Cup fixture against India at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday, October 8.

The 34-year-old had suffered a hamstring injury during the recently concluded ODI series against the Men in Blue in India. The Perth-born cricketer has missed four white-ball matches so far.

Australian coach Andrew McDonald was quoted as saying by foxsports.com.au on Thursday, October 5:

“Touch and go. He certainly hasn’t been ruled out of that, but we weren’t prepared to risk him in those practice games.”

He continued:

“We‘ve got the main session today and then another hit out tomorrow, so he’ll go through his work there and we’ll see whether he’s available for selection for game one. These next couple of days (are) really important for him to press for selection for game one, and we‘ll see how that unfolds.”

With this, Stoinis has joined Travis Head on the injury list. He has amassed 1400 runs and scalped 44 wickets in 64 matches so far.

Cameron Green, meanwhile, is the frontrunner to replace Stoinis in the Australia playing XI against India.

Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell recently confirmed that there were sore bodies in the squad after back-to-back series against South Africa and India apart from the warmup games. He recently told the reporters, as quoted by foxsports.com.au:

“I think the South African tour was quite a busy, hectic one. It’s a tough format one-day cricket. Someone likened it to, the amount of running we go through in a one-dayer is quite similar to a footy game, and we are playing three footy games in under a week. It’s a lot that goes through your body.”

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Marcus Stoinis doubtful, but Marcus Labuschagne set to play IND vs AUS World Cup match

Andrew McDonald, meanwhile, has confirmed that Marnus Labuchagne is set to play for Australia against India on October 8. On this, he said:

"He’s gone away and worked on his game, and it’s a great story. He’s pretty much a lock in that top four, and how we structure up is probably the only sort of final question that we need to answer.”

Labuschagne was included in Australia's squad for the marquee ICC tournament at the last minute. That came after his heroics ever since he replaced Cameron Green as a concussion substitute against South Africa.

The right-handed batter scored 283 runs in five games against South Africa and then added 138 runs in the three-match series against India.

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith, Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Sean Abbott, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc.