Mitchell Marsh with Pat Cummins (x.com)

Australian T20 captain Mitchell Marsh will refrain from bowling in the initial T20 World Cup matches but will take on bowling duties in the crucial later stages. 

Marsh sustained a hamstring injury during the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, causing him to miss the entire season for Delhi Capitals (DC).

His recovery has been slower than anticipated, and as a result, he did not bowl in either of Australia’s practice matches against Namibia and West Indies.

“Yeah, I won’t be bowling early on in the tournament. I always joke as captain – I hope I won’t bowl late in the tournament either. But yeah, I’ll progress that slowly over the next 10-12 days and hopefully be available for them at the back end of the tournament,” Marsh said on the eve of the T20 World Cup 2024.

Marsh not worried in absence of key players for warmup games

Australia had only 9 players from their 15-man squad available for the practice games, leading to the use of substitutes for fielding at various points. 

Head coach Andrew McDonald, batting coach Brad Hodge, fielding coach Andre Borovec, and national selector George Bailey filled in as substitutes.

Travis Head, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, and Marcus Stoinis were set to join the camp later. 

Apart from Stoinis, the others were participating in the IPL playoffs. Despite this, Australian captain Mitchell Marsh remains unconcerned about the key players missing the practice games.

Australia’s first game of the T20 World Cup is on June 5th against Oman.