After scores of 0 against India and 7 against South Africa, Mitchell Marsh had his first big knock in the World Cup 2023 as the Australia opener slammed 52 runs in 51 balls against Sri Lanka on a tricky pitch in Lucknow to help Australia to their first victory in the tournament.
Chasing a target of 210 runs, Australia lost David Warner (11 runs) and Steve Smith (0 runs) early in the innings. But Mitchell Marsh, instead of batting conservatively, continued in his aggressive mode and slammed 9 fours to put the pressure back on Sri Lanka.
Marsh would have gone on to score more runs however he got run-out due to a superb throw from the deep by Chamika Karunaratne. After Mitchell Marsh’s dismissal, Josh Inglish scored 58 runs, Marnus Labuschagne scored 40 runs and Glenn Maxwell’s cameo of 31 runs in 21 balls sealed the win for Australia, who had been at the bottom of the points table before this match.
Mitchell Marsh gives a hilarious reply to Sunil Gavaskar’s question on his father
After the conclusion of thr match, Mitchell Marsh gave a hilarious reply to Sunil Gavaskar’s question on his father, Geoff Marsh, who played in the era with Gavaskar.
Amazed by Mitchell Marsh’s powerful hitting, Sunil Gavaskar jokingly asked the Aussie opener “Did your father not teach you to bat like this (gestures playing a defensive shot)?”
Marsh had a funny response: “I am making up for his poor strike rate.”
Geoff Marsh had a strike rate of 55 in his ODI career while Mitch Marsh has a strike rate of 93 in ODIs and 133 in T20Is.
Ahead of the game, Marsh had spoken highly of his team’s ability to comeback in the tournament despite two losses. “A lot of Australian teams, when they’re backed into a corner, play their best cricket. We find ourselves in a corner early on in this tournament, but we’ve got to come out and put in a really good performance,” he had said.
Australia did show fight with the ball. Before Marsh’s onslaught over the Sri Lankans, it was Adam Zampa’s four-wicket haul that forced a collapse of the Sri Lankan batting line-up. Sri Lanka suffered a shocking collapse from 125/0 to 209 all-out. Adam Zampa took 4 wickets after two lackluster bowling performances against India and South Africa. Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins took two wickets each.
