Mitchell Marsh provides critical bowling fitness update ahead of T20 World Cup 2024

Mitchell Marsh is all set to lead Australia for the first time at an ICC event next month in the T20 World Cup 2024. The star all-rounder is recovering from a hamstring injury, which ruled him out of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 after playing just four matches. Marsh said that he will need a little bit of time before he can start bowling once again.

After playing just four games in IPL 2024 for Delhi Capitals, Marsh had to return home to recuperate from a hamstring injury. The ninth edition of the T20 World Cup is less than a week away. The experienced campaigner is battling hard to regain bowling fitness and bring his all-round skills to the table at the marquee event. He looked in good touch when joining a group of his teammates at training in Trinidad on Sunday and will be fit to take on Oman in their campaign opener in Barbados on June 5.

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Marsh explained the nature of his injury and asserted that he is well on track to recover fully ahead of the showpiece ICC event of the year.

"It's been progressively slow, but I'm finally getting there now and looking forward to getting stuck into the tournament," Marsh told Cricket Australia.

"Initially we thought it was a three-weeker, but with tendons, they can take a little bit longer and you've sort of got to go on feel. Once I was ruled out of the IPL, we've certainly taken our time to get right. And I feel lucky that I've had that bit of extra time, a little bit of time at home to refresh," he added.

I'll start bowling hopefully soon: Mitchell Marsh

Marsh is likely to feature in Australia's first warm-up game against Namibia on Wednesday in Trinidad. The former champions have another warm-up encounter scheduled on Friday versus the West Indies. The 32-year-old said that he will play as a specialist batter in the warm-up matches, as he needs a bit more time to get back to bowling. However, he isn't too concerned, as he has two seam-bowling all-rounders like Marcus Stoinis and Cameron Green on his side.

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"Probably still a little while off. I'll start bowling hopefully soon. Get through these practice games as a batter and then we'll ramp it up,” Marsh noted.

"But it's one of the beauties of being captain now, I don't have to bowl myself. We're lucky that we've got so many options with ball and so much talent, Stoin (Marcus Stoinis) and Greenie (Cameron Green), and we've got a lot of options. So, all our planning, it allows me to be really clear on that. I'll bowl when I need to bowl, but outside that, it's always team first."