“We’re not underdogs,” says Australian captain Marsh ahead of opening T20I match against South Africa  

Durban [South Africa], August 30 (ANI): Australian captain for the white-ball series against South Africa, Mitchell Marsh thinks that Australia’s “fresh” squad are not “underdogs” in the series. 

Australia will play their opening match of the three-match T20I series against South Africa on Wednesday in Durban.  After Aaron Finch announced his retirement, Australia does not have a regular captain in white-ball cricket. Marsh will take this series as an opportunity to show his skills as a potential regular skipper for Australia. 

“We’ve got some fresh faces in this squad, but I’ve got a lot of confidence that they’re all going to be able to perform at the international level. We’ve also got a lot of guys who’ve played for Australia in this team,” Marsh said as quoted by cricket.com.au ahead of the first T20I match against South Africa.  The Australian team had many changes in their Playing XI due to injuries and senior players resting, however, Marsh thinks that they are not underdogs in the series. 

“Whether or not we’re underdogs, I don’t know … we’ve got some debutants, they’ve got some debutants. It should make for an exciting series,” he further added. 
Marsh also talked about Matt Short who will debut in the first  T20I match and said that he should play his natural game. 

“(Matt Short) very exciting. He’s coming off an outstanding 12 months for the Strikers and Victoria last year and thoroughly deserves his place, I’m looking forward to seeing him open the batting for Australia. I’ve encouraged him to not change anything and take the game on, and we’re looking forward to seeing how he goes,” Marsh added. 

“From our point of view we have no expectation – we’re excited to see a young man play his first game for Australia. He really burst onto the scene only last summer, he’s had a few injuries over the last few years that’ve held him back but he’s a super talent, bowls mid to high 140s (kmh) and swings the ball, so my only message to him is to make sure he enjoys this,” he further said. 

Australia T20 squad: Mitchell Marsh (c), Sean Abbott, Jason Behrendorff, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Aaron Hardie, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Matt Short, Marcus Stoinis, Ashton Turner, Matthew Wade, Adam Zampa

South Africa T20 squad: Aiden Markram (c), Temba Bavuma, Matthew Breetzke, Dewald Brevis, Gerald Coetzee, Donovan Ferreira, Bjorn Fortuin, Reeza Hendricks, Marco Jansen, Sisanda Magala, Keshav Maharaj, Lungi Ngidi, Tabraiz Shamsi, Tristan Stubbs, Lizaad Williams, Rassie van der Dussen.