Injured Marsh to return to Australia

melbourne — Allrounder Mitchell Marsh has been ruled out of the remainder of Australia’s tour of India with a recurrence of a right shoulder injury.

Marsh scored 48 runs in four innings in the opening two tests and bowled just five overs in the Bangalore Test, which Australia lost by 75 runs on Tuesday. The four-Test series is tied 1-1.

Team physiotherapist David Beakley on Wednesday said Marsh had been playing with the injury for most of the summer season, “which we have been managing up until now ... but unfortunately it has progressively deteriorated to a point where he is unable to function at the level required.”

Coach Darren Lehmann said it was likely that another allrounder would be flown in from Australia to replace Marsh.

“It was fine when he got here but it’s gotten worse,” Lehmann said.

Marsh was preferred to spinner Glenn Maxwell in the Australian lineup for the first two tests, with selectors deciding that his seam bowling gave the attack a better balance.

Another potential candidate to replace Marsh is Moises Henrique, who has played all four of his Tests to date in Asia. He scored a career-high 265 against Queensland in Australia’s Sheffield Shield domestic competition last month. —