Australia all-rounder Marcus Stoinis has been ruled out of their next World Cup match against Pakistan due to a side strain.
The 29-year-old has featured in all of the defending champions’ games so far this tournament but it has been confirmed that he will not recover in time to face Sarfraz Ahmed’s side in Taunton on Wednesday.
Fellow all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has been flown over to England as back-up, but the Aussies will wait to make a call on whether he permanently replaces Stoinis in their 15-man squad.
Australia captain Aaron Finch said Stoinis would be reassessed ahead of Australia’s game against Sri Lanka at The Oval on Saturday.
“(We’re) not exactly sure on how many games he’ll miss,” Finch said on Tuesday. “That’s why Mitch is flying over. It’s still being assessed. Over the next couple of days we’ll have a clearer picture on what that looks like,” he added.
Stoinis bowled seven overs for 62 runs against India, picking up the wickets of Virat Kohli and MS Dhoni.
But he was dismissed for a duck by Bhuvneshwar Kumar and Australia fell 36 runs short of India’s total of 352 to lose the match.
