Australia T20I captain Mitchell Marsh is in the form of his life. Apart from his performance with the bat and ball, Marsh is also excelling financially on the back of an Indian Premier League contract with Delhi Capitals worth a whopping INR 6.5 crore per season. However, there was a time when Marsh had decided to skip an IPL auction in order to play for Surrey in the English domestic circuit.
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Apart from his first two IPL seasons in 2010 and 2011, it was only as recent as 2022 and 2023 when Marsh played two consecutive seasons of the biggest T20 league in the world. In fact, had it not been for so many injuries in a professional career which is currently into its 15th year, Marsh would’ve been one of the best all-rounders of modern times given his calibre across divisions.
Mitchell Marsh, Who Earns INR 6.5 Crore At Delhi Capitals, Once Ditched IPL Auction To Play For Surrey
Readers must note that Marsh had decided to dodge IPL 2018 in the hope of forcing his way back into the Australian setup. He signed up with Surrey as an overseas player. With English conditions always challenging for overseas batters, Marsh had laid emphasis on focusing on the same in a bid to get a chance at the highest level again.
“The opportunity to challenge myself in English conditions is something I can’t wait for,” Marsh was quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
“As soon as I’m right to go, I’ll always be an all-rounder as long as I play cricket. But, at the end of the day, if I’m going to play cricket for Australia, I have to be the sixth-best batsman for Australia batting at No 6. So, I understand that.”
Bought by Rising Pune Supergiants, Marsh was forced to leave IPL 2016 midway because of a shoulder injury. He even missed IPL 2017 due to another shoulder injury that he had sustained while playing for Australia. Despite all of that, he had the courage to miss the 2018 season as well. In fact, Marsh even gave IPL 2019 a miss to focus on Test cricket.
In IPL 2020 auction, Marsh’s services were acquired by Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 2 crore. It was while playing his first match of the season when an ankle injury had witnessed history repeating again. It is quite a pity that such an all-encompassing player like Marsh has had his progress hampered by injuries time and again.
Ankle Injury Had Ruled Mitchell Marsh Out Of English Domestic Season In 2018
Although Marsh opted to play for Surrey by sacrificing an IPL contract, but yet again, his body had failed him. He could not play a single game in either first-class or List-A formats due to an injured ankle which required a surgery. Current South Africa captain Dean Elgar was named Marsh’s replacement by the club.
“Given the news that Mitch Marsh will need ankle surgery, to be able to bring someone of Dean’s caliber to the club, at such short notice, for the first period of the season is a real bonus,” Surrey director of cricket Alec Stewart was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.
Unfortunately for Marsh, he has never been part of the English county system even once. While Middlesex had signed him for T20 Blast 2020 and 2021, he was unable to play a match due to a COVID-19 rescheduling and an international commitment respectively.
With him representing Australia across all the three formats at the moment, it will be interesting to see if the 31-year old player is able to take out time for county cricket from hectic modern-day scheduling.
