“Important to not play the bowlers but the ball” - Mitchell Marsh’s advice to young Indian batters

Delhi Capitals (DC) all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has advised young Indian batters to focus on the ball and not the bowler while facing high-quality international bowling. Marsh added that batters need to watch the ball closely and react accordingly.

DC’s young batting guns have come a cropper in the ongoing IPL 2023. Opener Prithvi Shaw has registered a highest score of 15 from five games and has been dismissed without scoring twice. Sarfaraz Khan, who has been exceptional in domestic cricket, has also been found out against genuine pace bowling.

As a team, the Delhi Capitals have struggled to put together a decent performance. After five games, they are yet to get their first points on the board. The likes of Shaw will be under pressure heading into DC’s next clash against the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) on Thursday, April 20.

At a pre-match press conference, Marsh was asked what advice he would give the struggling young Indian batters. He replied:

“I think it’s really important for the young players to not play the bowlers but the ball. When someone is bowling at 140 or 150, ultimately, you will have to watch it and react accordingly. Facing the fast bowlers of the world is a valuable experience to all the youngsters.

“Guys like Yash Dhull have a great future, he is a great young kid, he loves learning and that’s the kind of culture we have here in Delhi, everyone wants to learn and be a better but unfortunately the results don’t show at the moment.”

Dhull, 20, has played in two matches in the ongoing IPL and has been dismissed for two and one respectively.

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“There’s no doubt that we would like to be batting better” - Mitchell Marsh

Reflecting on Delhi’s poor performance in IPL 2023, Marsh conceded that the batters ought to come up with a much better showing. He lamented the lack of partnerships and the inability of batters to score big.

The 31-year-old Australian all-rounder commented:

“There’s no doubt that we would like to be batting better. In our all five matches, we haven’t been able to get off to a reasonable start or we have lost wickets in clumps. We have to string partnerships and we need one player to get a big score, that we have not been able to do. If we can do that, then we can turn it around.”

Marsh himself has struggled with the bat, having registered scores of 0, four, and 0 in the three matches he has played. Speaking about his own failures, he said:

“I’ve not been able to execute my plans. But I know that my process works and therefore it’s about sticking to your process and having good intent.”

In their previous match, Delhi went down to Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) by 23 runs, failing to chase down a target of 175.