CHENNAI: Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis is “touch and go” for their World Cup opener against India at the weekend after picking up a hamstring problem in a one-day international against the hosts last month, coach Andrew McDonald said on Thursday.

The 34-year-old pulled up sore after Australia’s first game of their 2-1 series defeat and missed two warm-ups, 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.”

Stoinis is one of five all-rounders in the Australia squad, with all of them expected to play important roles in their quest for a sixth World Cup title.

McDonald said their lone specialist spinner Adam Zampa’s workload was also being managed ahead of the tournament.

“He did pull up sore from the second game in the ODI series but nothing significant,” McDonald said.

Opening batsman Travis Head is also recovering from a fractured hand and McDonald said he expected an official update next Wednesday or Thursday.

“That will give us a lot more information as to the final time frames and when he potentially can join the group but until we get that then he’ll remain at home training and prepping his body as much as he can,” McDonald said.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2023