'I have a range, and if the ball lands in my range then I will definitely go after it'.
Mitchell Marsh made a sensational comeback to Test cricket with a blistering century on Day 1 of the third Ashes Test at Headingley on Thursday.
Marsh, playing in his first Test since the final match of the 2019 Ashes series in place of the injured Cameron Green, launched a superb counter-attack after Australia had slipped to 85/4 as he blasted his way to his third Test hundred from just 102 balls.
Handed a rare Test chance because of Cameron Green's injury, Marsh made most of the opportunity with a brilliant exhibition of strokeplay to leave the hostile Headingley crowd in awe.
India pacer Chetan Sakariya, who has played with Marsh at Delhi Capitals in the last two seasons of IPL, is impressed by the Australian all-rounder's simple approach to batting and also his attachment with his family.
"He is a family man, he likes to spend time with his family. I like this particular quality about him," Sakariya tells Rediff.com's Harish Kotian.
"Mitchell Marsh is a very simple person. He is very down to earth and he addresses everyone with a lot of respect.
He is a family man, he likes to spend time with his family. I like this particular quality about him.
I remember in this year's IPL he was missing his brother (Shaun) a lot so he called him all the way from Australia to India to spend some time with him. So those are the things I was really impressed about him.
We are inexperienced players, so when we get injured we start thinking that we are missing out on the opportunity and what will happen in the future, we start doubting ourselves and negative thoughts come to our mind.
But I didn't notice that kind of fear in him because when he got injured and he consulted the physio he was quite chilled. He was not overly worried that he might miss some matches in the Ashes series because of the injury. There must have been some thoughts in his mind but the way he was dealing with the injury it was quite professional.
His approach to batting is quite simple. Infact, he had spoken to me personally about his batting approach. He bats in the top order so I also spoke to him to find out what his thought process is when facing a particular bowler. His reply was quite simple: 'I have a range, and if the ball lands in my range then I will definitely go after it'.
When I asked what his range was, he replied that it was the length where the bowlers look for swing, the 4-5 metre range, that is his area. So if the bowler bowls in that area and if the ball doesn't swing then it is an easy pick up shot for him. So the though process is quite simple and he has a lot of belief that no matter who the bowler is, even the fastest bowler in the world, if he bowls in that zone then he will definitely go after him.
At the start of a T20 match, all the teams look to bowl attacking line and length and try to pick up early wickets. But if they miss their line or length, it suits Mitchell's natural game plan as if the bowler errs with his line or length then he will be hit for runs and he has been executing this quite well in the last year or so."
