India vs Australia ODI World Cup 2023: Hosts India, captained by senior opener Rohit Sharma, will take on Pat Cummins-led Australia in their ODI World Cup 2023 opening match on October 8 (Sunday) at Chennai's iconic MA Chidambaram Stadium. Both India and Australia are favorites to win the coveted ICC trophy this year. In what comes as a big shocker for five-time World Cup winners Australia just days ahead of their ODI World Cup 2023 match against India, their star all-rounder Marcus Stoinis might miss out on playing in the crucial match.
Losing a key all-rounder like Marcus Stoinis comes as a significant blow for the Aussies as they now will be forced to make adjustments to their playing XI and strategies. Stoinis is a valuable all-rounder known for his ability to contribute with both bat and ball. If the news reports turn out to be true, the Australian team management will have to consider promoting another all-rounder or specialist players in their playing XI, someone who can provide a similar balance to the team like Stoinis does. It will be interesting to see how Australia copes with this setback.
In an interaction with Fox Sports, Australia head coach Andrew McDonald confirmed that Marcus Stoinis is doubtful for India vs Australia ODI World Cup 2023 match on October 8 in Chennai. Stoinis suffered a hamstring niggle during IND vs AUS 3rd ODI, last month, and is yet to fully recover from it. Incidentally, Stoinis didn't even feature in Australia two ODI World Cup warm-up matches.
"He's got a slight hamstring complaint at this stage, so that's why he missed the practice games and he'll be touch and go for the first game against India. 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 but at the moment he wasn't fit and available for those practice games," McDonald said.