2LT National News

Melbourne [Australia], October 31 (ANI): Australia captain Mitchell Marsh joined an exclusive club and became only the fourth player for his country to hammer 2,000 T20I runs.

The experienced swashbuckler achieved the feat during the second T20I against India in front of a sold-out crowd at the famed Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday. Marsh continued to ride high on his sizzling white-ball form to a rapid 46(26).

Following his recent exploits, Marsh has joined David Warner (3,277), Aaron Finch (3,120), and Glenn Maxwell (2,833) in the 2,000 T20I runs list. Marsh, who crossed the feat in his 78th match, has 2,042 runs at 33.47 while striking at 140.63 with 11 fifties and a solitary ton.

While pursuing a paltry 125-run target, Marsh weathered the early storm before opening his arms against the spinners. He showed signs of his destructive nature by going on the back foot and pulling the ball into the second tier off Harshit Rana in the fourth over.

In the first over after the powerplay, Marsh lofted the ball straight down the ground for his second maximum of the day off mystery spinner Varun Chakravarthy. In the eighth over, he inflicted carnage by decimating the left-arm wrist spinner Kuldeep Yadav with a flurry of boundaries.

On the first ball, Marsh pulled the ball over mid-wicket for a four, and muscled the ball flat over deep mid-wicket for a six with his brute force. On the third ball, he used his back foot to find the gap and send the ball racing away for a four. Kuldeep bowled it flat and wide outside off to pick up a dot ball.

On the fifth, Marsh didn’t spare Kuldeep for pitching up the delivery and belted another flat maximum before miscuing on the final ball. He ballooned the ball, which landed safely in the hands of Abhishek Sharma, punching his return ticket on a rollicking 46(26).

The 34-year-old’s impressive display set the foundation for Australia gunning down the target in 13.2 overs to script a four-wicket win and take a 1-0 lead in the five-match series. (ANI)