Mitchell Marsh has addressed the intense backlash he received for a controversial photo with the World Cup 2023 trophy placed under his feet. The all-rounder clarified that his pose was not intended to disrespect anyone. Following Australia’s six-wicket victory against Rohit Sharma’s India on November 19 in the final at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium, pictures of Marsh celebrating with the trophy beneath his feet circulated widely.

Despite scoring 15 runs at a run-a-ball before being dismissed by Jasprit Bumrah, Travis Head’s outstanding 137-run innings secured Australia’s triumph with seven overs to spare. Even Mohammed Shami, who concluded the World Cup as the highest wicket-taker with an impressive tally of 24 wickets in 7 games, expressed feeling “hurt” by Marsh’s gesture during the celebratory moments.

In response to the criticism, Marsh mentioned, “There was obviously no disrespect meant in that photo at all. I haven’t given it too much thought, I haven’t seen a lot on social media even though everyone tells me it’s gone off. There’s nothing in that,” as quoted by SEN.

Commenting on the ongoing five-match T20I series, where several Australian cricketers remained in India after the World Cup, Marsh expressed his view on the challenging situation they faced.

“Yeah it was pretty outrageous for the guys that had to stay behind. It’s a fine line because we’ve got to respect the fact we’re playing for Australia, and it’s a series against India which is always really big. But there’s also the human side of it, the boys have just won a World Cup and probably deserve to celebrate for a while and get home to their families” Marsh explained.

“It’s an interesting one. You’d hope there’s not too many of those series put on after big tournaments again. I celebrated for the six guys who stayed behind, I celebrated for them,” he added.

Reflecting on his performance in the World Cup, Marsh emerged as a pivotal player, amassing 441 runs from 10 matches at an average of 49 and a strike-rate of 107.56, including two centuries and one half-century.