'Gold' allrounders primed for Cup assault: Cummins

Australia has the luxury of picking their three fast-bowling allrounders as batters first, skipper Pat Cummins says, as Marcus Stoinis faces a race against time to prove his fitness for their World Cup opener against India on Sunday.

Stoinis has trained strongly over the past two days, bowling about four overs off his full run up on Friday evening before batting for about 40 minutes under lights in the steaming Chennai heat.

But Cummins revealed on match eve the star allrounder was "up against it" to be available to face India at MA Chidambaram Stadium on Sunday after picking up a hamstring complaint in the first ODI against India last month.

"He's going to have a run out (there) this afternoon but he's got to jump through a few hoops," Cummins said.

Australia's preferred method in the 50-over format over the past 18 months has been to stack their side with allrounders, but the resurgence of Marnus Labuschagne at No.4 has seemingly left room for only one of Cameron Green or Stoinis at No.7 with Mitch Marsh locked in at the top of the order to partner David Warner as Travis Head recovers from a fractured hand.

Cummins said the West Australian trio were all top seven batting options during the tournament with their bowling a bonus.

"In one-day cricket, more than any of the other formats, you need allrounders, you've got to try and find 50 overs," he said.

"We feel really blessed to have people like Cam Green, Mitch Marsh, Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis in the side.

"They're like gold … they genuinely pick themselves from their batting and their bowling is kind of a bonus.

"It means you can bat deeper. We're lucky that we're going to have seven or eight bowlers to choose from but no doubt you'll see more from the specialists and the allrounders will chip in when they need to."

How Cummins manages his allrounders' workloads throughout Australia's nine group matches will also be crucial. Marsh has only returned to bowling in the past three matches after being managed through the South African tour and Stoinis is recovering from his hamstring injury.

Both have also had extended injury layoffs throughout their careers, with Marsh missing the Perth Scorchers entire KFC BBL|12 campaign last summer due to ankle surgery, while Stoinis missed the middle part of the Big Bash season and didn't bowl in the tournament in the New Year due to an earlier hamstring injury.

But Cummins said the plan through the early stages of the tournament was for those selected to be available to bowl.

"If things shift then we'll manage that, but the good thing is in each game, between Maxwell, Marsh, Green and Stoinis, we'll have lots of bowling so there might be some games where one or two of the allrounders either don't bowl or bowl very little," he said.

"But Mitch is really good, it's all on track. That's been by design to hold (him) back from South Africa and start building up to the World Cup and he's going really well."

Australia's 2023 ODI World Cup fixtures

October 8: v India, Chennai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 12: v South Africa, Lucknow (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 16: v Sri Lanka, Lucknow (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 20: v Pakistan, Bengaluru (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 25: v Netherlands, Delhi (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

October 28: v New Zealand, Dharamsala, 4pm AEDT

November 4: v England, Ahmedabad (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

November 7: v Afghanistan, Mumbai (D/N), 7.30pm AEDT

November 11: v Bangladesh, Pune, 4pm AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, David Warner, Adam Zampa