Sydney, Dec 1
Australian cricketer Mitchell Marsh has clarified that he did not mean to offend or disparage the World Cup trophy in response to criticism from Indian supporters for raising his feet on it. “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. Many Indian fans were outraged when an image of Australian all-rounder Mitchell Marsh with his feet on the World Cup trophy surfaced on social media the day after Australia defeated India to win the tournament, which was posted by Australia Captain Pat Cummins in his Instagram stories on November 19. Even Indian pacer Mohammed Shami expressed his displeasure with Mitchell Marsh’s celebration. An RTI activist wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and Union Sports Minister Anurag Thakur, pleading for Mitchell Marsh to be barred from playing in India. Marsh finally spoke out after receiving a lot of backlash on social media for his actions. In an interview with Australia’s SEN radio network, the 32-year-old stated that he did not intend to offend anyone and that he would most likely repeat the celebration in the future. “Yeah, well, probably,” Marsh said when asked if he would host the celebration again. Mitchell Marsh was among Australia’s best players, scoring 441 with the help of two centuries in the 10 games he played during the 2023 edition of the World Cup.
Although he just scored 15 runs off 15 balls in the finals of the 2023 World Cup in November, Marsh was rested for Australia’s subsequent T20I series against India, but many of the World Cup winners including Steve Smith, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell, and Adam Zampa among others had stayed back to take part in the series.
