‘Didn't think that was clever batting’ - Michael Vaughan on Mitchell Marsh’s poor shot selection during chase against SRH

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan opined on Delhi Capitals’ (DC) all-rounder Mitchell Marsh’s poor shot selection during the chase against Hyderabad, which eventually led to the latter throwing his wicket away. Notably, Aiden Markram and Co. emerged victorious against DC by nine runs at the Arun Jaitley Stadium in Delhi on Saturday, April 29.

For the unversed, the visiting team posted a competitive first innings score of 197 runs. Abhishek Sharma scored 67 off mere 36 balls, whereas Heinrich Klaasen remained unbeaten and notched up 53 runs off 27 balls to steer the side to a strong total.

In response, Delhi were handed a major blow as skipper David Warner was sent packing for a second-ball duck. However, Mitchell Marsh, who came in at No. 3, slammed a stroke-filled 63 off 39 balls to inject momentum and revive the chase. His knock included six maximums and one boundary at an impressive strike rate of 161.53. 

Just when he seemed to have revived the game for the Capitals, the all-rounder perished as he tried to attack Akeal Hosein for back-to-back maximums. In the first ball of the 14^th over, Marsh slammed a humongous 94-meter six off Hosein.

In an attempt to repeat a similar shot, Hosein tossed the ball up while Marsh got a leading edge only to find Aiden Markram, who comfortably pouched the ball to dismiss him. In doing so, Delhi eventually tumbled and kept losing wickets, upon which Sunrisers snatched the game away from the home team. On that note, cricketer-turned-broadcaster, Vaughan, highlighted that the all-rounder could have stayed for a bit longer instead of playing an unnecessary shot which led to him throwing away his wicket.

"Mitchell Marsh just put the ball into the stands and tried to do it again. I know it's T20 cricket, and the ball's got to travel, but I didn't think that was clever batting. Mitchell Marsh had to just take it a bit deeper,” Vaughan told on Cricbuzz.

"He'd already put the bowler under pressure. He didn't have to take the next ball. That was a bit straighter, clever bowling because he bowled it a bit slow, but I'm not too sure Mitchell needed to take that challenge on the ball after,” he added.

Delhi were handed their sixth defeat of the IPL 2023 season and are placed at the bottom of the table. Despite ending up on the losing side, Marsh was adjudged Player of the Match for his belligerent 63, coupled with a four-wicket haul in the first innings.