New Delhi: Australia skipper Michell Marsh insist they have enough quality players to fill the void of injured pacers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood at the T20 World Cup that begins on Saturday.
A back strain has ruled Cummins out of the entirety of the tournament while Hazlewood is expected to miss at least two group stage matches with an Achilles niggle.
“I think we’ve got a lot of bases covered. One of the great things about Pat and Josh especially, being all three format players, is that we’ve been able to build a lot of depth within our squad and the guys that have come in have played a lot of cricket for our group,” Marsh said on Thursday.
Australia are clubbed with Ireland, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Oman in Group B, which was a tricky draw, Marsh said.
“Yeah, we’ve got great respect for all the teams that we’re going to be playing against. Over the last 18 months, I feel we’ve been one of the most consistent sides in the world.
“We come to this World Cup really confident, knowing that conditions will be different at times. But we’ve got guys that have experienced that all over the world,” he said.
Australia were swept 3-0 by Pakistan in a T20I series in the build-up to the World Cup but Marsh wasn’t willing to pay much heed to it, rather hoping that their spinners excel on spin-friendly Sri Lankan pitches.
“Yeah, look, Pakistan was Pakistan. We had a few guys missing and we came here with a long lead-in, a good training session. We have a practice game ahead and then a long build-in to our game. So, we will be very well prepared for our first game,” Marsh said.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence in them to go out there and do the job when required and then we’ll just pick teams based on the conditions. Matthew Kuhnemann has been great for us.
“We’ve also got Adam Zampa and then we’ve got a few spinning all-rounders, like most teams will,” he added.