BANGALORE: Victorian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis was picked ahead of the in-form Moises Henriques on a horses-for-courses policy, despite a wretched season in the Sheffield Shield.
Selection chairman Trevor Hohns said Stoinis beat Henriques and unheralded Queensland all-rounder Jack Wildermuth for a ticket to India because of his strong performances here for Australia A, while his bowling was considered the most threatening of the three.
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Australia fall short despite incredible 146 run Stoinis comeback
After a horrible collapse by Australia an amazing century from Marcus Stoinis set up a dramatic finish at Eden Park.
He is now vying with Glenn Maxwell, Ashton Agar and Usman Khawaja for the position vacated in the top six by the injured Mitchell Marsh.
Stoinis' promotion will raise eyebrows among state players across the country. The all-rounder has made 172 runs at 15.63, with a highest score of 46, but was preferred instead of Henriques, who is fourth on the shield runs table and averaging 65.9, and Wildermuth, who is averaging nearly 36.
Nor does Stoinis boast the best numbers with the ball, his eight wickets at 39.5 inferior to Wildermuth's 18 victims at 33. Hohns confirmed Henriques' lack of recent bowling counted against him.
Stoinis, however, performed well with bat and ball for Australia A in India in 2015, when he made a 71 and claimed the wickets of Test pair Cheteshwar Pujara and Karun Nair.
"Marcus got across the line simply because during Australia A here a couple of years ago he performed very well," Hohns said.
"Secondly, we consider to give us as many options as we possibly could have going forward in this series, we considered the stronger bowler to be the best option at this stage. That's what got him across the line."
Stoinis' blistering one-day international century in New Zealand, which almost pinched Australia a come-from-behind win, was also a factor, despite coming in a different format.
"What he showed there was his ability to perform under extreme pressure," Hohns said.
The Hilton Cartwright experiment appears to be ditched, the West Australian all-rounder not even in the frame two months after making his Test debut in Sydney.
Hohns said he was not concerned with the number of players being picked then discarded.
"We're trying to get a core group of players that can play together for some time, and at what we consider to be the appropriate time we will introduce some younger players to give them a bit of experience and exposure to the national environment," Hohns said.