IND vs AUS: Mitchell Marsh banks on all-rounders' bulk in Australia team as mantra to succeed in ODIs
More the merrier! Mitchell Marsh happy with all-rounders' count in AUS team
Australia’s Mitchell Marsh feels more all-rounders in the team will result in a better balance. World Cup-winner with Australia in One-Day and T20 cricket, Marsh feels having more dual-ability players provides the captain with extra cushion to pick the best XI for a game. Realising that Australia has eight all-rounders in their squad for the three-match ODIs against India, starting on Friday in Mumbai, Marsh thinks this number fits in the team's structure.
Adding that how in the England team players can bat up to even eight or nine, Australia will love to deploy the same approach if they were to succeed in One-Day cricket. Ahead of the first ODI, Marsh told the Australian media,
"The more all-rounders, the better," Marsh said.
"For the balance of our team, having as many all-rounders in here as we can is important for the structure we line up with. England have guys batting at No.8 that are genuine batters. It gives you the ability to either set really big totals or chase big totals. You'll see that hopefully this series," the hard-hitting all-rounder added.
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Marsh opined that knowing this is a World Cup year and how cricket is played in this part of the world, having the batting depth will benefit Australia going ahead.
"And looking forward to the World Cup, just the way the cricket is played here in the white-ball format, you're going to have to chase big scores or make big scores to be able to defend them," Marsh further opined.
The Western-Australian star underwent ankle surgery and missed three months of cricket, as he wasn’t even available for the Border-Gavaskar series also. Now returned to the side for the white-ball leg, Marsh revealed he is not 100% ready and fit to bowl but will get there in a couple of weeks' time.
“I'm probably a month away, three weeks away, from bowling in games," Marsh said. "We've got a lot of (bowling) options in our team at the moment and a lot of cricket to play this year.”
