It’s pretty crazy how it all works out, says Mitchell Marsh on being named Australia’s T20I captain

Perth: After being named Australia’s captain for the upcoming T20I series against South Africa, pace all-rounder Mitchell Marsh admitted that it was still pretty crazy for him to believe that he’s getting a chance to be the captain of the side.

Marsh has been handed the top job albeit for the three T20Is against South Africa after Aaron Finch retired from international cricket earlier this year. The all-rounder was the hero of the final when Australia won the 2021 Men’s T20 World Cup in the UAE and recently returned to Test cricket through a century in the third Ashes Test at Headingley.

“It’s pretty crazy how it all works out. Very proud moment. Probably not something I’d ever thought I would do, but really looking forward to the opportunity of going to South Africa.

Guess I’m very proud that I’ve stuck at it, and been through a little bit of adversity through my career – through my own fault, mind you – but [it’s] nice to be recognised in our group as a leader.” said Marsh to SEN Radio.

Marsh has previously captained Australia at the U19 level and feels proud of himself for not giving up on succeeding at international level.

“Think anyone who works hard and is driven to succeed in whatever field they are in, and they come up short, it can be bloody hard to be honest with you, and I’m really proud of the fact I’ve never really given up,” he said.

“I’ve also (been) through those lessons learnt to enjoy every part of my life — the ups and downs — and try to take a lot of learnings from my failures, and understand that whatever you do in life – whether it’s cricket, sport, (or) business – you are going to fail, and it’s (about) how you deal with those failures. Hopefully that will help me with my leadership, and (in) trying to win a few games for Australia,” he added.

The 31-year-old opined that T20 is the toughest format to be a leader of the side, citing the shift in the game at any point through very narrow margins.

“It’s certainly the hardest (format). I’ve given up captaining the Scorchers… that was mainly around (when) I was really striving to play for Australia, and I didn’t feel like I could give it everything. It’s really hard to balance that,” said Marsh.

“You’ve got to put a lot of time into getting things right tactically, but I’m really looking forward to the challenge and will have plenty of good people around me to help. I’ll lean on others, which has been a really important learning for me as a leader,” he added.

–IANS