NEWS
Follow UsAfter admitting Afghanistan outplayed Australia, skipper Mitchell Marsh has turned his attention to the game against India on June 24 (Monday) in St Lucia. It is a must-win game for Australia for them to book a place in the semi-final, but it will not be easy against a dominant Indian unit who are yet to be beaten in the T20 World Cup 2024.
While hoping to put the loss against Afghanistan behind him, Marsh believes that playing against India has always brought out the best in his team and wants his team to show just that.
"We have a lot of belief in our group. We are a very good cricket team," Marsh said after Australia's 21-run defeat to Afghanistan in St Vincent.
"Yes, tonight we had an off night, but I guess there's also a positive in the fact that in 36 hours, we go again. It's a big game, it will be against India, obviously, and it's a must-win game. If you look back at the short history of this team, I know that it brings out the best in our guys, so the boys will certainly be up and about for it."
Australia were particularly sloppy in the field, dropping a couple of catches, misfielding often, and missing out on a few run-out opportunities. Despite their poor show, Marsh insists Australia are an excellent fielding side that just had an off day.
"I think we don't want to have too many off nights in the field, but I also believe that at our best, we're an unbelievable fielding side, so it's easy to look at tonight, and yes, it was disappointing, but ultimately, we have 36 hours to turn it around, and I still believe that our best is very good in the field," Marsh said.
There is a thought that Australia perhaps missed Mitchell Starc, especially in the powerplay. They roped in left-arm spinner Ashton Agar as the surface at St Vincent was a spinning track. In hindsight, should Starc have played?
"I think anytime you make a decision like that - Starcy is unlucky in a sense, but we've said right from the start of the tournament that we've got 15 guys here, and we'll pick a team that we think can win us the game in those certain conditions," Marsh said.
"Everything pointed towards Ash [Ashton Agar] tonight, and I thought he did a brilliant job. Four overs, none for 15 (0/17). He was outstanding. The reality is when you've got this much talent, someone's always lucky to miss out."
Marsh has not been in good form with the bat, having managed just 88 runs in six innings so far, and has struck at just 111.39.
Speaking of his lean patch, Marsh said, I think something we speak about as a batting unit is just having impact. When the scores are a bit lower, it sometimes looks and feels a bit different. I haven't actually got going yet in this tournament, but for me it's about just, I mean for everyone it's about staying true to our preparation.
"We know, and we've done this plenty of times before in international cricket, we play a lot of cricket back-to-back, it's all about recovery and moving on pretty quickly to the next game."
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