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Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh declared that he is fit for the second Adelaide Test against India, after uncapped Tasmanian cricketer Beau Webster was roped in as a cover for the 33-year-old.
Marsh arrived in Adelaide on Tuesday and said that his body feels good to go for the pink-ball, day-night match starting December 6 onwards. "Body's all good, sweet. I'll be good to go," Marsh said as quoted by Nine's Wide World of Sports. However, WWOS also said that as per Sydney Morning Herald, the experienced all-rounder could play the Adelaide pink-ball Test as a specialist batter. Marsh has been dealing with ankle issues since quite some time, missing a part of the 2022-23 summer for surgery. He arrived in Adelaide with "more soreness than expected". During the Perth Test, in the second innings run-chase of 534 runs, Marsh made a quickfire 47 in 67 balls, with three fours and two sixes. With the ball, he delivered 17 overs in total and got three wickets across both innings. Speaking after the match at Perth, skipper Pat Cummins had hinted that Marsh was sore towards the end of the match and would be monitored for the next 10 days. "He has been battling a couple of little niggles since the UK tour," Cummins said as quoted by Wisden. "So the main thing is he's in there as one of the top six batters in the country, and bowling is a bonus. He was a little bit sore towards the end of this Test match. In the next 10 days, chance to freshen up, try and get it right. We will see how he goes. Ideally, he would be able to bowl in each Test match," he added. Marsh has been Australia's best performer with the bat for past one year since his return to Test set-up in Ashes against England. In 11 Tests and 20 innings since his comeback, he has made 803 runs at an average of 44.61, with a century and six fifties. His best score is 108. Australia squad (for second Test): Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal. (ANI)
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