'Literally Perfect...': AUS Captain Mitchell Marsh To India Ahead Of Big Series

Mitchell Marsh admitted on Sunday (October 12) that a lot of his teammates would have one eye on the 2025-26 Ashes series when India visit Australia for a white-ball rubber in October. He, however, added that it won’t take anything away from the ‘rivalry’ and ‘respect’ between the teams and the series would be ‘perfect-timing’.

Marsh will captain Australia in the three-ODI and five-T20I series, with Pat Cummins absent from the 50-over side with an injury. A big part of his job would be to keep his team focused on the job at hand, and not at the buildup for the Ashes, which is famous for distracting both Australian and English players alike.

“We’ll have all the guys building towards the Ashes, but everyone loves playing against India. We’ve got

a great rivalry and great respect for them as a team. I think it’s literally perfect timing to be playing against India in the lead-up to an Ashes series. It’s going to be massive,” Marsh told Fox Sports.

Marsh has previously spoken about how these bilateral series allow sides like Australia to build their depth and find the best combinations in the months-long buildup towards a World Cup.

“I think the ODI World Cup is still a long way away, so you’re still sort of building out that team, and we know that with certainly for our all three format players, it’s a near impossible thing to play all games,” Marsh said in an interview in Brisbane last month.

“But that always brings opportunity to, like you said, keep creating as much depth as we possibly can and keep giving guys opportunities. And there’s obviously a big focus on the T20 World Cup (next year). It feels like every game from now is really important to us figuring out what our best team is, while still trying to create as much depth as we can, because we know there’s a lot of cricket left until we get there. The build-up to the World Cup is really exciting and can’t wait to get over there,” he had added.