Aussie allrounder Marcus Stoinis is pressing his Ashes claims in India, but he insists his focus remains on the task at hand
Stoinis' focus on ODIs, not Ashes
Allrounder Marcus Stoinis is one of the few Australian players to have enhanced his reputation on this Qantas Tour of India, but says he's not yet thinking about the possibility of an Ashes debut this summer.
Stoinis enters Thursday's fourth ODI in Bengaluru boasting a career batting average of almost 95 from six matches, which has been boosted by unbeaten knocks of 62 and 27 in the past two games.
Having successfully proven that his unbeaten 146 in Auckland earlier this year was far from a one-off, his assuredness against a top-quality Indian attack in this series has put him in contention to take the No.6 spot in the Test side this summer.
State teammates former and current - Glenn Maxwell and Hilton Cartwright - are the leading contenders to fill that role against England, but Stoinis could push his way to the front of the queue in the final two games of this series and the first three JLT Sheffield Shield matches leading into the Tests.
"Obviously (those games) are probably pretty important to play the Ashes," he said at the M. Chinnaswamy Stadium on Tuesday.
"But at the moment I'm not really thinking about that.
"There's two games left in this series and it's a chance to start some momentum for the summer. All the focus is on that for the team."
Stoinis replaced the injured Mitchell Marsh in Australia's Test squad in India earlier this year but was overlooked in favour of Cartwright for the recent Test tour of Bangladesh.
While he wasn't drawn on recent selection permutations, Stoinis said his form on this tour gave him confidence that he belonged in international cricket.
"The only way I can answer is (to say) I'm enjoying the pressure," he said when asked if feels comfortable at the top level. "I'm enjoying the opportunities and I'm seeing them as opportunities.
"I'm obviously still young in my international career and I think that's where my head is at the moment.
"The pressure can definitely get to you, but at the moment the way I'm going about it I'm enjoying the chance to be put under pressure and the chance to do something good for the team.
"There's always people on every single tour who are unlucky not to be involved and there's only 11 players playing at a time.
"We all understand when you miss out, it's very tough. But also, when you get your opportunity to represent your country, it's an absolute honour."
Another in the frame to fill the allrounder spot in Australia's Test side in NSW Blues captain Moises Henriques, who said on Tuesday he may need to increase his bowling output to be considered.
Henriques bowled just 60.4 overs in nine Sheffield Shield matches last summer, but kept himself in the frame for higher honours with 775 runs at 65.
"Over the last couple of summers, I was managing a couple of little injuries and trying to limit how much I was bowling in games," the 30-year-old said in Sydney.
"I guess if I do want to play for Australia, I'm obviously going to have to bat well, bowl well and field well.
"First of all, I've got to be bowling well enough to bowl myself for long enough.
"I'd say everyone is in the mix (for a Test spot). I'm not sure what will define who gets picked or not."
Australia's Qantas Tour of India
Australia ODI squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Ashton Agar, Hilton Cartwright, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Patrick Cummins, James Faulkner, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, Kane Richardson, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa.
Australia T20 squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner, Jason Behrendorff, Dan Christian, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Aaron Finch, Travis Head, Moises Henriques, Glenn Maxwell, Tim Paine, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa.
India ODI squad: Virat Kohli (c), Rohit Sharma (vc), KL Rahul, Manish Pandey, Kedar Jadhav, Ajinkya Rahane, MS Dhoni (wk), Hardik Pandya, Axar Patel, Kuldeep Yadav, Yuzvendra Chahal, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami.
ODI Fixtures
September 17: India won by 26 runs (DLS Method)
September 21: India won by 50 runs
September 24: India won by five wickets
September 28: M Chinnaswamy Stadium, Bengaluru
October 1: VCA Stadium, Nagpur
T20 Fixtures
October 7: JSCA International Stadium, Ranchi
October 10: Barsapara Stadium, Guwahati
October 13: Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad