Perfect timing to be playing against India in lead-up to an Ashes: Marsh

New Delhi, Oct 12 Australian captain Mitchell Marsh expressed that facing India in the lead-up to the Ashes series against England, commencing on November 21, presents an ideal and timely challenge, while highlighting the strong rivalry and mutual respect between the two teams.

India’s white-ball tour of Australia starts with the ODI series opener on October 19 at Perth Stadium and is followed by matches at Adelaide Oval and Sydney Cricket Ground on October 23 and 25, respectively.

It is followed by the five-match T20I series beginning on October 29 at Manuka Oval in Canberra, with further games to be played at the MCG on October 31, Bellerive Oval in Hobart on November 2, Gold Coast Stadium on November 6 and The Gabba in Brisbane on November 8.

“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," he told Fox Sports.

Australia will continue their preparation to rebound from a disappointing T20 World Cup in the Caribbean and United States when they host India in separate ODI and T20 series over the next three weeks.

The massive crowds that attended last year’s thrilling Border-Gavaskar Trophy indicated how enticing the rivalry between Australia and India has become.

Notably, public ticket allocations for the men’s T20I game between Australia and India at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) have been fully exhausted, more than two weeks ahead of the fixture scheduled to be held on October 31.

The last time India toured Australia for a bilateral ODI series, the visitors lost by a 2-1 margin in 2020/21 but managed to win the subsequent T20I series by the same margin on the same tour.

India will be led by newly appointed Shubman Gill in the ODIs, with stalwarts Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli named in the squad too, while Suryakumar Yadav would take over as the skipper for the T20I leg of the tour.

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