India is taking on Australia in the first ODI at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Hardik Pandya is leading the side in the absence of Rohit Sharma in the first game, while Rohit will join team India in the second ODI on March 19 at Visakhapatnam.
Star Australian batter, David Warner misses out in the first clash against Men in Blue in the 50-overs format due to injury, while Mitchell Marsh opened the innings instead of Warner for Aussies. Marsh said ahead of IPL that he will be not bowling in the series to further recover from his injury for IPL.
Marsh said on his Injury update for preparing for ODI WC 2023-
“The 31-year-old believes he is still a long way away from bowling full-fledged. “No, I won’t be bowling in this series, (I am) probably three weeks or a month away from bowling in a game, (will) build towards the IPL,”
“It is not the right time to be rushing back. We have a lot of bowling options in the team at the moment and a lot of cricket to be played this year. Very recently, I had surgery (ankle) to prolong my career as an all-rounder and I won’t be rushing back…” said the Aussie all-rounder.
Marsh’s long injury lay-off had kept him out of international cricket for about three months since December 2022. the Australian all-rounder underwent surgery to treat his troublesome left ankle.
End of a brilliant knock from Mitchell Marsh, 81 runs from just 65 balls including 10 fours & 5 sixes.
Jadeja gets him in his 300th International game. pic.twitter.com/zfFYpCT08z
— Johns. (@CricCrazyJohns) March 17, 2023
“After a long layoff through injury, for me, it has been really important to come back as a better version of myself. I feel that way right now, I feel good. It was nice to play some games for WA (Western Australia), get some miles in the leg and get ready for this series. I’m feeling great, and hopefully, I can contribute to a few wins,” he further added.
The 31-year-old missed out Big Bash League (BBL) 2022/23 full season as he was recovering from the misfortune. He played a couple of games in the Sheffield Shield for Western Australia.
“As an all-rounder, it’s vitally important they play all three of us…that’s a joke,” he said in jest. “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.
“We’ve seen really good teams in the past, like England, have guys at No. 8 who are genuine batters, and it gives you the ability to either set or chase really big totals. Think we’ll see that in this series; hopefully, there will be a lot of runs scored,” concluded the right-handed batter.
After the end of the first innings, Steve Smith-led side was bowled out for 188 runs at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai. Earlier, Hardik Pandya won the toss and opted to field in the first ODI of the three matches. Marsh was the highest scorer from the Australian innings with 81 runs, while the tall pacer will be featuring for the Delhi Capitals (DC) in IPL 2023.