Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis’s availability uncertain for World Cup match against India

Australia, which is struggling with a couple of injury concerns, take on India in their World Cup opening match in Chennai

All-rounder Marcus Stoinis is doubtful for Australia’s first game of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 against India due to an injury.

India and Australia will come face to face in the ongoing World Cup on Sunday, 8 October, at MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

The Aussie camp is struggling with a couple of injury concerns, including Stoinis who picked up a hamstring issue in the recently concluded One-Day International (ODI) series against India – the hosts of the World Cup.

Australia head coach Andrew McDonald on Thursday told reporters in Chennai that Stoinis suffered the hamstring injury in the first ODI against India in Mohali where he hit 29 and took the new ball, claiming figures of 0 for 40 from his spell of five overs.

"It was the Mohali game, (Stoinis) pulled up a little bit sore from that. Further investigation led to that being a slight hamstring. He’ll be touch and go for game one. He certainly hasn’t been ruled out of that, but we weren’t prepared to risk him in those practice games,” McDonald told reporters.

The Australian head coach said his side had an important training session on Friday which would determine if Stoinis was ready for the first game or not.

"These next couple of days (are) really important for him to press for selection for game one and we’ll see how that unfolds," added McDonald.

Since the Mohali game, Stoinis has missed Australia’s last four matches, including both World Cup warm-up fixtures against the Netherlands and Pakistan. But the 34-year-old all-rounder returned to training prior to Australia’s final practice match ahead of the World Cup against Pakistan in Hyderabad where he bowled and batted for about 90 minutes.

Australia’s other concerns involved players such as Adam Zampa and Travis Head.

Zampa, who is gearing up for nine group games across the next 37 days, missed the last three matches to manage his workload. But Zampa’s situation isn’t as concerning as Stoinis’s.

Head gave Australia one of their biggest setbacks when he fractured a hand during their recent ODI series against India. Head, who offers Australia a tad more flexibility with his off-spin, is set to miss at least the initial stages of the World Cup. Despite his current situation, Australia are hopeful that Head will recover fully at some point in the tournament and thus have retained him in their 15-member squad.

Australia will still be wary of the likes of Steve Smith, skipper Pat Cummins, and Mitchell Starc who were forced to miss their tour of South Africa due to their wrist and groin injuries.

Not to forget, Glenn Maxwell is visibly going out of his way to ensure his ankle issues do not become a hindrance to his desire to represent Australia in the World Cup.