After being routed by the Indian bowlers in Bangalore, Australia dealt with another blow after all-rounder Mitchell Marsh was ruled out of the remaining two Tests due to a shoulder injury. With Marsh filling up as the third pacer and a support to the new ball pair of Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc, the Australian selectors were on the lookout for a pace bowling all rounder.
A seasoned campaigner in the form of Moises Henriques was an option, but the selectors opted for the relatively unknown Marcus Stoinis, who recently grabbed eyeballs with a sparkling ODI century at Auckland. Trevor Hohns, the chief selector of Australia in his recent release to the media mentioned that Stoinis’ stint with Australia A helped him edge ahead of Henriques for the tour of India.
“When we looked at the various options we had to replace Mitch, there were two or three people who came to mind, and certainly Marcus was one, Moises was another, another young man by the name of Jack Wildermuth was considered as well, he’s had a terrific season too,” Hohns said about Stoinis’ selection for the remaining Tests at Ranchi and Dharamshala.
“Marcus got over the line because a couple of years ago here with Australia A he performed very well, secondly we consider to give us as many options as we possibly could have in this series, we considered the stronger bowler to be the best option at this stage. That’s what got him across the line,” Hohns added.
Stoinis himself sounded pretty confident and was upbeat about doing well in India. “There’s no such thing as form really,” Stoinis said. “I went in and made a hundred for Australia recently and hadn’t made many runs before that. You just have to get involved and trust you know what you are doing.”