Australia’s Mitchell Marsh was subjected to severe criticism after a picture of him with his feet on the ICC World Cup 2023 trophy was shared by their skipper Pat Cummins on social media.
Indian fans expressed resentment towards Marsh and the photograph, calling it a 'disrespectful' gesture towards the cup.
Marsh, however defended his action and said that he meant no disrespect. When asked if he would do it again, the all-rounder said, “Yeah probably, to be honest.”
"There was obviously no disrespect meant in that photo at all. I haven’t given it too much thought, I haven’t seen a lot on social media even though everyone tells me it’s gone off. There’s nothing in that," Marsh was quoted as saying to SEN.
Speaking on the ongoing five-match T20I series where Australian players who were also a part of the World Cup are participating, Marsh said, "Yeah it was pretty outrageous for the guys that had to stay behind. It’s a fine line because we’ve got to respect the fact we’re playing for Australia, and it’s a series against India which is always really big."
"But there’s also the human side of it, the boys have just won a World Cup and probably deserve to celebrate for a while and get home to their families," he added.
"It’s an interesting one. You’d hope there’s not too many of those series put on after big tournaments again. I celebrated for the six guys who stayed behind, I celebrated for them," Marsh said.
With two hundreds and one half-century to his credit, Marsh amassed 441 runs from 10 games at an average of 49 and a strike-rate of 107.56 and was a vital cog in the Australian wheel in the World Cup.
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