Marcus Stoinis is questionable for Australia’s World Cup opener against India, but skipper Pat Cummins said his team has enough fast-bowling all-rounders on the roster to get through. The MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai will host the high-stakes match on October 8.
For his two days of practice, Stoinis bowled about four overs on Friday night before batting for roughly 40 minutes under lights. The outstanding all-rounder, according to the Australian captain, is unlikely to play against India.
“He’s (Stoinis) going to have a run out (there) this afternoon but he’s got to jump through a few hoops,” Pat Cummins said on the eve of the game, according to cricket.com.au.
The all-rounders, in Pat Cummins’ opinion, are like gold because they can excel with both the bat and the ball.
“More than any other format, one-day cricket requires allrounders, and you need to look for 50 overs. We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have teammates like Marcus Stoinis, Mitch Marsh, Cam Green, and Glenn Maxwell. They truly choose themselves from their batting, and their bowling is more of a bonus. They are like gold.
It implies that you can bat farther. We’re fortunate to have a selection of seven or eight bowlers, but you’ll undoubtedly see more from the specialists, and the all-rounders will step up when necessary, the 30-year-old continued.
Cummins went on to discuss how he will distribute the workload among his all-rounders over Australia’s nine group games in the major competition. Notably, Stoinis is presently recovering from a hamstring injury sustained during the series against India, and Marsh has only participated in Australia’s previous three games following a break.
“If circumstances change, we’ll handle it, but the good news is that Maxwell, Marsh, Green, and Stoinis will bowl a lot each game, so there may be some contests when one or two of the all-rounders don’t bowl or bowl insignificantly. But Mitch is great, and everything is on track. That was done on purpose to hold (him) back from South Africa and start the World Cup buildup, and he’s doing great,” he said.