Champions Trophy 2025: Mitchell Marsh ruled out of tournament as Australia suffer major setback

The Champions Trophy 2025 is not far away and most of the squads have already been announced for the upcoming ICC event. The tournament will begin from the February 19 where the top eight teams will be competing against each other in the event, which is set to be co-hosted by the UAE and Pakistan.  

There has already been a lot of drama surrounding the Champions Trophy and this time it is the Australian squad that has made the headlines as their star all-rounder Mitchell Marsh has been ruled out due to experiencing lower back pain and dysfunction. This is a big blow for the Australian side since Marsh has been one of their key players in the team who adds a lot of depth to the squad with his ability with both bat and ball.

"The National Selection Panel and Australian men’s medical team ruled Marsh out of the tournament with the injury which has not responded sufficiently to rehabilitation. His lower back pain flared in recent weeks, leading the NSP to make the longer term decision for Marsh to complete a more extended period of rehabilitation," an official release from Cricket Australia on Friday, January 31 read.

"Marsh will now undergo a period of further rest and rehabilitation as part of his return to play plan. The NSP will meet to decide on a replacement for Marsh in due course. The deadline for the final squads for the ICC Men’s Champion’s Trophy is prior to Wednesday, February 12," it concluded.

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Marsh’s ODI performances

Speaking of the star all-rounder's performance in the ODI format, he has played 93 matches scoring 2794 runs at an average of 35.82, which includes three centuries and 19 half-centuries with the highest score of 177 which came against Bangladesh in the 2023 ODI World Cup. 

Apart from that he has also bowled some handy spells with the ball, taking 57 wickets at an average of 35.71 and an economy of 5.52. His most memorable spell was against England, where he took 5/33 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in 2015.