Why is Mitchell Marsh not playing today's GT vs DC match in IPL 2024?
Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh will miss the Delhi Capitals' (DC) trip to Ahmedabad for the IPL 2024 clash against Gujarat Titans (GT) on Thursday.
According to ESPNcricinfo, Cricket Australia (CA) recalled him following consultations with Delhi after he suffered a hamstring injury against the Kolkata Knight Riders in Vizag on April 3. He missed a couple of games before heading back to Perth on April 7 soon after DC's defeat to the Mumbai Indians.
Marsh is all set to be named Australia's captain for the 2024 T20 World Cup and CA has been managing him carefully for the last couple of years. It's unclear whether he'd be able to return and take part in the season again.
In his short time with the DC, Marsh couldn't recreate his exploits for Australia with either bat or ball. In four matches, the right-hander scored just 61 runs at an average of 15.25, while managing just one wicket in eight overs at an economy rate of 12.88.
Who has replaced Mitchell Marsh in DC's playing 11?
DC's match against Chennai Super Kings (CSK) was the first time they switched things up by opening with Prithvi Shaw and demoting Marsh to number three. After the latter's injury, they brought in an extra overseas pacer for the MI match.
When that didn't work well either, they finally turned to promising Australian youngster Jake Fraser-McGurk against the Lucknow Super Giants, whose 55 (35) on IPL debut helped them collect their second win of the season.
“He was batting really well in the nets, and we could make out that he has that X-factor and that ability to strike those sixes. In his innings, he started off with two sixes. In the last two games, we played well but could not cross the line, so we wanted to have an impact on the game, and he delivered," DC assistant coach Pravin Amre said on Fraser-McGurk recently.
Fraser-McGurk has kept his place for the match against GT. However, because David Warner is also out due to injury, he might open the innings with Shai Hope coming at number three. Catch all the live proceedings here.