Mitch Marsh to miss series against Pakistan due to hip injury: Report

Lahore- On the eve of the start of the white-ball leg of the tour to Pakistan, Australia were dealt with a huge blow with all-rounder Mitchell Marsh all set to miss the entire series due to a hip flexor injury, says a report by ESPNCricinfo on Monday.

If confirmed, Marsh’s absence will further deplete an Australia side missing Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Steve Smith.

“He’s injured his hip-flexor, we think, at training. We are going to have to wait and see what that looks like but I don’t think he’ll be available for the series based on how he was feeling yesterday. He sustained that in a fielding drill, it was a high intensity, lateral movement drill and he bent down to pick it up one-handed and went to throw and felt a twinge,” captain Aaron Finch was quoted as saying in the report.

If Marsh’s injury is deemed serious, then it raises doubts over his participation for Delhi Capitals in the ongoing IPL 2022. Marsh was already supposed to miss the first three games for the Rishabh Pant-led side because of the white-ball tour to Pakistan.

But the hip-flexor injury has now put a question mark over his presence in the IPL, considering Delhi have just seven overseas players in the ongoing edition of the tournament. Marsh had missed the last two seasons of IPL due to ankle injury in the opening match and bio-bubble fatigue while being a part of Sunrisers Hyderabad.

In the meantime, young all-rounder Cameron Green will be his replacement for the first ODI at Gaddafi Stadium. Green has played just one ODI till date, coming against India in December 2020, where he made 21 with the bat and had figures of 0/27 in four overs of pace bowling. Green was recently a member of the Test side which won a gruelling three-match Test series 1-0.

“Cam (Green) will play and probably bat in that middle-order role. We’ve seen he’s a super talented cricketer. He’s someone who has been quite consistent in his Test career, his impact with the bat and ball can’t be understated. Really excited for Cam to get that opportunity.”

–IANS