"True to myself": Mitchell Marsh decodes his match saving knock on Day 3 against Pakistan
Dec 28, 2023
Melbourne [Australia], December 28 : Mitchell Marsh talked about the emotions that he was going through during his match-saving knock of 96 on Day 3 of the second Test against Pakistan on Thursday at the MCG.
Pakistan's blitz made Australia toil hard as the hosts found themselves on 16/4 when Marsh walked in with Mir Hamza on a hattrick. Along with Steve Smith, he stitched up a match-saving partnership of 153 runs.
Marsh walked out to bat at the iconic MCG five years after he was booed by the crowd. He singlehandedly shifted the complexion of the game as he took on the bowlers and scored 96 off 130 deliveries.
"Firstly, there's a lot of voices inside your head at 4-16," the 32-year-old said as quoted from cricket.com.au.
"It just comes back to being true to myself and being really clear on my role within this team and knowing how I play my best. I guess it was a big moment for me personally to, in that moment, just have a little think about how I wanted to go about it. I've said that on record, so I guess I had to stay true to myself," Marsh stated.
The circumstance was completely against Marsh's natural game. Defence was the demand of the situation rather than using an aggressive approach to counterattack.
"I felt like it was really hard work. The ball was swinging around, Shaheen had his tail up and we know that he's world class. I guess it was a matter of trying to get through, but also making sure I put the bad balls away. I was able to do that," Marsh added.
In the final session, Smith and Marsh continued to counterattack after pulling the hosts out from the fragile position of 16/4. Australia reached to 150-run mark in 44.1 overs.
The 153-run partnership between Smith and Marsh came to an end as Marsh was caught by Agha Salman at slips, with Mir getting his third wicket. Marsh was gone for 96 in 130 balls, with 13 fours. Australia was 169/5.
Smith carried on building a partnership with Alex Carey. Smith reached his half-century in 153 balls, with three fours. However, he fell on the last ball of the day for 50 in 176 balls to Shaheen. On that note, the day ended.
Mir (3/27) and Shaheen (3/58) were among the top bowlers for Pakistan for the day.
