Pure batsman role gets the best out of Mitch Marsh as he gets his maiden IPL century to punctuate a successful season with the bat.
Mitchell Marsh has enjoyed the pure batsman role this season, with the freedom to go after the bowling allowing him to flex his batting credentials.
Fans’ recollections of Mitchell Marsh prior to IPL 2025 were always of the large Australian limping off the pitch, with subsequent articles indicating that he was out for the season. Although it might have been the same this year, Marsh and the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) seem to have benefited greatly from a batter-only contract. As Tom Moody described it, “the golden ticket” allowed Marsh to concentrate on just one area of his game.
“I think firstly he is fit. I think in previous seasons we’ve seen Mitch Marsh sort of start but then find himself injured. I think a lot of that’s the workload of trying to be the allrounder,” Moody said on ESPNcricinfo’s Time Out. “He’s not bowling now, so he’s exclusively a batter that doesn’t field. So he’s got the golden ticket. Now he sort of understands his game. This is not just recent but the last three years, four years, he’s really come to terms with his game and what he needs to bring to the party.
“And that’s what we saw tonight, just take the game on and just intimidate the opposition with his presence.”
He currently sits at No. 4 on the Orange Cap list after hitting 117 off 64 balls against Gujarat Titans (GT) in Ahmedabad on Thursday night, bringing his season total to 560 runs from 12 innings. Marsh is expected to be among the season’s top five run scorers, but LSG is out of the running for the playoffs.
The fact that Marsh, who has a history of ailments, didn’t cost a lot at the last auction must have pleased LSG. He paid them INR 3.40 crore, or roughly US$ 0.40 million.
“He was bought cheap – a steal – and sometimes that fires you up,” JioStar expert Aakash Chopra said. “Earlier, he had a big price tag and low returns. This year, he’s come in differently. The Ekana pitch [in Lucknow] suits him – ball comes on nicely. And his sixes? When he hits, they stay hit. Shot selection has also improved. He’s showing real class.”
Marsh’s most effective shot on Thursday was the pull, which accounted for 32 of his runs. He scored 60 of his runs down the ground, including three of his ten fours and four of his eight sixes. Just 12 runs trailed the wicket, demonstrating the strength of the game.
“I think he had an issue with balls coming into him before. He would get out lbw [and] bowled quite a lot,” Varun Aaron said. “But now he has made an adjustment in his technique where he is really holding his shape going down the ground, and today we saw so many shots hit so powerfully down the ground. He’s always had the power. I mean, he comes from Perth. He’s always had the ability to play the short ball really well.”