T20 World Cup 2024: 'Don't have an answer' - Mitchell Marsh offers dead bat to insufficient gap between IPL and T20 World Cup

Australia captain Mitchell Marsh chose to avoid any controversy ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024 by deciding against sharing his opinion on the short gap between the tournament and the IPL.

The 17th edition of the IPL ended on May 26 while the T20 World Cup got underway on June 2. With just a gap between the two competitions, the ICC has come under fire. While no high-profile player has expressed his concern so far over such a short gap between the two tournaments, New Zealand star Mitchell Santner recently admitted that his team's preparations have been chaotic.

Most of the leading teams did not have all the players together to prepare for the T20 World Cup due to the IPL. Talking about Australia, they only had nine players available for the warm-up games as the likes of Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Starc, Glenn Maxwell, and Cameron Green were granted extra time at home after the IPL. In their absence, Australia had to field some of the members of their coaching staff on the field.

I don't really have an answer: Mitchell Marsh

While the Australian team management must have preferred to prepare for the tournament with their full-strength squad, Mitchell Marsh decided against expressing his disappointment over the same. Speaking ahead of the T20 World Cup, the Australia allrounder said that he would not answer the question since he's not the one who is making the decisions.

"I don't really have an answer to that question and I don't make those decisions - so, as a group we're here to win. Things may look a little bit disjointed at the beginning and I think most teams are in the same boat with guys that are playing the IPL or coming out of the shop.

"But that's the nature of the beast of international cricket these days. We come from all over to tours and we'll get around each other the next few days and come together and kick off," Marsh said.

Meanwhile, Australia beat Namibia in their first warm-up game before suffering a loss against co-hosts West Indies. The reigning Test and ODI world champions are in Group B along with England, Scotland, Oman, and Namibia. They will open their campaign against Oman on June 5.