Mitchell Marsh reveals reason behind shock loss against Afghanistan

SAINT VINCENT: Australia’s T20I captain Mitchell Marsh opened up after his side’s shock loss at the hands of Afghanistan in a crucial ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Super Eights fixture here at Arnos Vale Ground on Saturday.

Marsh, while addressing the post-match press conference after Australia’s 21-run defeat, stated that his team had an off-night and also that they allowed the opposition to score freely.

“They probably got 20 too many. Lot of teams have bowled first in this tournament. Don’t think it was won or lost at the toss. We had an off-night on the field,” stated Marsh.

“Wasn’t the easiest of wickets, but both teams played on it. As I said, we got outplayed today. We just need to win, and there’s no better team to do it against,” he added.

Australia were sloppy in the field against Afghanistan as the former champions put down five catches but Mitchell Marsh remained confident in his team’s ability in the department.

“There’s a lot of things you can look at, the reality is there’s small margins here when the scores are low,” said Marsh.

“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.

“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.

“We certainly pride ourselves on our fielding. Can’t question the boys putting in the work. I think it’s no different to any other skill set. We put in the work, we didn’t execute in the field tonight and ultimately it played a part in us losing the game.”

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Marsh then went on to defend Australia’s decision to rest Mitchell Starc, stating that they pick a team that can win games in certain conditions.

“Any time you make a decision like that, Starcy’s unlucky in a sense,” said Marsh. “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.

“Everything pointed towards Ash tonight and I thought he did a brilliant job. Four overs, one for (17). He was outstanding. The reality is when you’ve got this much talent, someone’s always unlucky to miss out.

“… I don’t think the game was won or lost in the Powerplay tonight.”

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