Stoinis "touch-and-go" for Australia's World Cup opener against India; Ashwin remains in focus

Marcus Stoinis, an all-rounder for Australia, is "touch-and-go" for Australia's World Cup opener against India this weekend after suffering a hamstring injury last month, according to coach Andrew McDonald.

Having doubts about his fitness before Sunday's opening in Chennai, the 34-year-old pulled up sore after Australia's first ODI of their 2-1 series loss to India and missed two warm-up matches.

"That took place following the game in Mohali. After waking up slightly sore from that game, additional examination revealed that he had a little hamstring tear, and he is now simply recovering, McDonald told Australian reporters.

"Game 1 is going to be close. He hasn't definitely been ruled out of that, but we weren't willing to take a chance on him in those exhibition matches.

Therefore, it's likely that he's being played a little more slowly with the idea that the upcoming days will be crucial for him to push for selection for game one. We'll watch to see what happens.

Adam Zampa's workload, according to McDonald, is also being monitored. "He did pull up sore from the second game of the series, but nothing significant," he added. Reuters

Ashwin remains in focus.

Chennai: Ravichandran Ashwin, an off-spinner, had a compelling net session here on Thursday, providing enough evidence to make it appear as though he will make the starting XI.

On Sunday, Australia will play host to India.

If the pitch at the MA Chidambaram Stadium is exciting, Ashwin might be added as the third spinner following Ravindra Jadeja and Kuldeep Yadav.

Against Steve Smith and David Warner, he has had a lot of success.

In Test matches, Ashwin has ejected Warner 11 times.

Smith, a reliable run-scorer in ODIs, struggled against the off-spinner as well, particularly in Tests.