Starc 'unlucky' as Marsh laments costly dropped catches

Mitch Marsh defended Australia's decision to omit Mitchell Starc for their defeat against Afghanistan, tipping a backs-against-the-wall approach will have them primed to hit back in their must-win clash with India.

Marsh conceded a second poor fielding performance in three matches, dropping five catches against the Afghans in St Vincent to rival the six they put down against Scotland last week, had a major bearing on their first slip-up of the T20 World Cup.

A loss to the unbeaten Indians in St Lucia will likely end their hopes of adding the men's T20 title to the ODI and Test crowns Australia already have in their possession.

Starc appears a strong chance to return to the XI after his new-ball wicket-taking prowess was sorely missed as Afghanistan put on a 118-run opening partnership.

While Ashton Agar was undoubtedly the right pick for the turning Kingstown surface, there was a case to be made that he should have played over either Pat Cummins or Josh Hazlewood instead of Starc.

"Any time you make a decision like that, Starcy's unlucky in a sense," said Marsh. "But we've said right from the start of the tournament that we've got 15 guys here and we'll pick a team that we think can win us the game in those certain conditions.

"Everything pointed towards Ash tonight and I thought he did a brilliant job. Four overs, one for (17). He was outstanding. The reality is when you've got this much talent, someone's always unlucky to miss out.

"… I don't think the game was won or lost in the Powerplay tonight."

Marsh also shrugged off the impact of his decision to bowl at the toss despite the previous three games at the venue having been won by the team that batted first. His counterpart Rashid Khan said he would have batted if the coin had fallen his way.

What was a vital factor in the result, conceded Marsh, was a fielding display that left plenty to be desired.

Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa (who both put down one-handed catch attempts) and Matthew Wade (who fumbled a stumping he was blindsided on) all missed difficult opportunities.

But Agar, Travis Head and David Warner failed to hold on to chances the Australians would undoubtedly have expected them to complete.

Agar also had two boundary-line misfields that went for four, while Head allowed an extra run backing up an overthrow.

"There's a lot of things you can look at, the reality is there's small margins here when the scores are low," said Marsh.

"We don't want to have too many off nights in the field but I also believe that at our best we're an unbelievable fielding side.

"It's easy to look at tonight and, yes, it was disappointing but ultimately, we have 36 hours to turn it around and I still believe that our best is very good in the field.

"We certainly pride ourselves on our fielding. Can't question the boys putting in the work. I think it's no different to any other skill set. We put in the work, we didn't execute in the field tonight and ultimately it played a part in us losing the game."

There was in fact even less than 36 hours' of turnaround time to the India game by the time Marsh uttered those words at 1am local time on Sunday.

The match is being played at 10.30am on Monday (12.30am Tuesday AEST) which is prime-time in India's enormous, cricket-hungry television market.

The Australians have refused to complain about a taxing draw that has sent them island-hopping around the Caribbean during the Super Eights stage to play three games with only a day between each match.

India face a similar travel-heavy second round but had the advantage of a more settled group stage that saw them play three consecutive games in New York to begin the tournament.

"First things first – recover," said Marsh when asked about how Australia is tackling the series of inter-island flights between matches.

"We have a lot of belief in our group. We are a very good cricket team.

"Yes, tonight we had an off night but I guess there's also a positive in the fact that in 36 hours we go again. It's a big game, it will be against India obviously and it's a must-win game.

"I think if you look back at the short history of this team, I know for a fact that it brings out the best in our guys, so the boys will certainly be up and about for it."

2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup

Australia's squad: Mitch Marsh (c), Ashton Agar, Pat Cummins, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa

Australia's Group B fixtures

June 6: Beat Oman by 39 runs

June 9: Beat England by 36 runs

June 12: Beat Namibia by nine wickets

June 16: Beat Scotland by five wickets

Australia's Super Eight fixtures

21 June: Beat Bangladesh by 28 runs (DLS)

23 June: Lost to Afghanistan by 21 runs

25 June: v India, Daren Sammy National Cricket Stadium, St Lucia, 12.30am AEST

Semi-finals to follow if Australia qualify

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