Michael Clarke’s hopes of taking part in the one-day World Cup are expected to become clearer overnight.

Clarke suffered serious back and hamstring injuries during Australia’s first Test against India, with the captain flagging fears he may never play again.

Cricket Australia consulted with specialists over the past two days and were set to finalise their treatment plan for Clarke’s chronic woes late on Monday.

The fact national selectors gave the Test captaincy to Clarke’s long-term replacement Steve Smith instead of using Brad Haddin does not bode well for the 33-year-old.

“These are difficult circumstances given Michael’s injury and the fact that we don’t know how long he will be out of the game,” chief selector Rod Marsh explained.

“What we do know is that it won’t be an overnight fix.”

George Bailey remains Clarke’s understudy in one-day internationals.

Team performance chief Pat Howard said on Monday the issue of who leads Australia at the World Cup had been “quarantined”.

“The next 24 to 48 hours will give us far better guidance on that process. But I think George Bailey has done a fantastic job,” Howard said.

“We’re No.1 in the world. He’s led the last two series, so all that was discussed.”

Coach Darren Lehmann said on Sunday that Clarke would need to be “fully fit” to take part in the World Cup, which starts on February 14.

National selectors would presumably not want to take a risk on Clarke returning in a knockout fixture.

Their concern lies not only with Clarke’s current state of health, but the prospect he could ping a hamstring at any moment.

Team physio Alex Kountouris, speaking last month as Clarke raced the clock to play the first Test, admitted it was a hard issue to manage.

“Once he’s done it once, twice, the risks go up of a recurrence. How we minimise those risks is difficult,” Kountouris said, then analysing Clarke’s left hamstring injury.

Clarke injured his right hamstring on Saturday.