'Marsh is a big part of our World Cup campaign' – Langer
Marsh, 35, has been in outstanding form in the 50-over format of late. In his last eight innings, he has four centuries, the last of which was a valiant 131 in a last-over defeat to India at the Adelaide Oval.
In sharp contrast, Marsh's Test form has been rather ordinary and that resulted in him getting dropped for the series against Sri Lanka. Marsh admitted to being disappointed about missing out on Test selection, but said that he was focussed on his ODI ambitions for now.
Australia include uncapped Will Pucovski, recall Matt Renshaw and Joe Burns in squad for Test series against Sri Lanka!
— ICC (@ICC) January 9, 2019
SQUAD: Paine (c), Hazlewood, Burns, Cummins, Harris, Head, Khawaja, Labuschagne, Lyon, Pucovski, Renshaw, Starc, Siddle pic.twitter.com/g2jwRHvPuM
With the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2019 on the horizon, Marsh is more concerned about continuing to contribute in ODIs.
"It's something I’m not going to worry about too much," said Marsh of his Test future. "I’ll just try and play some really good white-ball cricket now and see what happens.
"My Test stuff over the last 12 months has been really disappointing, so I’ve made a conscious effort to go out there in this series to free my mind and play my way."
Shaun Marsh's 123-ball 131 and Glenn Maxwell's quickfire 48 help Australia post 298/9.
— ICC (@ICC) January 15, 2019
Will that be enough to go 2-0 in the series?#AUSvIND LIVE ⬇️https://t.co/cU6nhMe2xE pic.twitter.com/xaxx9RSfsr
And 'playing his way' has earned him rich dividends as scores of 54 and 131 in the first two ODIs against India show. Australia coach Justin Langer too has been proud of how well Marsh has recovered from the news of his Test axing.
"He’s turning into a great one-day international player," said Langer. "I’m also really proud of the way [he’s responded] after not being selected for the next Test series against Sri Lanka.
"With that pressure, a lot of guys can shrivel up, but he hasn’t, he’s stood tall. He’s working really hard, he’s had a couple of good innings now. I’m really proud of Shaun, he’ll be a big part of our World Cup campaign."