Sporting comebacks always turn out to be memorable and admirable. From Shahid Afridi’s comebacks from retirement to Zaheer Khan’s injury comebacks, World Cricket has seen a variety of comebacks in recent times. While the story may not be of the caliber of other players of the game, Mitchell Marsh has managed to script his own respectable comeback.

Following a couple of good domestic seasons, Mitchell Marsh found himself as a member of the Australian squad across formats on regular occasions. With the ability to contribute with both bat and ball, there was a lot of potential ready to be used. After a few disappointing years, he wasn’t the most liked of players in Austarlia, and lost a lot of respect. He began to be termed as a bits and piece cricketer with poor returns as both a batter and a bowler.

Mitchell Marsh made a name for himself in the 2010 IPL when he impressed with his style of play for the Deccan Chargers. Before that he showed his potential in the Under-19 World Cup and was considered a complete package. A decade of underperformance, injury and disappointment followed though. He was in and out of the IPL with injury, backed by the Australian board, but benched frequently. On occasions, Mitchell Marsh showed his worth by taking up a better workload, but struggled to impress with the bat putting a question mark over his ability as an all-rounder.

He played very few games in the last decade, spent lot of time on the bench, but is now in the middle of a remarkable comeback. After being criticized for his lack of contribution as an all-rounder with bat and ball, Marsh has managed to remodel his career. Unlike earlier, he isn’t a finisher now, and is instead finding success as a number three batter.

He took up the role of number three when Steve Smith was rested, found success and the role took him into the World Cup. At the World Cup, Mitchell Marsh cemented himself as a T20 batter with some wonderful knocks. He didn’t bowl too much in a bid to manage his workload but with the bat alone he did enough to merit a place in the side.

His form in the T20 format bought him back to the Australian side in other formats, although he remained on the bench. He came into the IPL with a hip injury, and looked a doubtful starter though. He had a bout of covid-19 as well, and his first outing with the Delhi Capitals was a forgettable one.

He struggled to a 24 ball 14 and was struggling in yet another IPL campaign. The innings though turned out to be a one-off as Mitchell Marsh came back well. Few games later, chasing on a tough surface against the Royals, Marsh walked in after an early wicket. He struggled this time around too, but managed to hang around and once he found his timing he was unstoppable. The ball was swinging, good length balls were mis-behaving but Mitchell Marsh hung around well and kept finding boundaries.

He finished with 89 and sealed the chase with an innings full of big-hits. The innings proved to be a reminder of his ability to make comebacks as he fought hard to score early on. He is now in a pretty good place, especially after what happened in IPL 2020. Seen as a big-ticket signing for the Sunrisers Hyderabad, Marsh was out to injury after the very first game.

This season though, he is batting well and has also started to contribute with the ball. At the age of 30, Mitchell Marsh has seen some of the harshest of criticism, but his career finally seems to be going well and the all-rounder is now at the peak of his powers, ready to have some more fun on the cricket field.