Shaun Marsh

One of the many international players to have benefitted immensely from the IPL, Shaun Marsh who emerged on the scene after winning the Orange Cap in IPL 2008. Big brother to Mitchell and son of an Aussie great - Geoffrey Marsh. Shaun is a big name in Australian cricket for well over a decade, who’s known for his sheer talent and ability to translate it on the bigger stage. 

Born in Western Australia, Shaun spent a lot of time in the Australian set-up travelling with his father, before his childhood memories turned into a bread-butter occupation for him. He was part of the Australia U-19 squad that won the World Cup, in 1999 and 2001, and was the 2nd highest run-scorer for his team in the 1999 version. 

The elegant left-hander made his first-class debut as a 17-year-old, and then caught everyone’s eyes when scored a Hundred as a 19-year-old against New South Wales in 2003. His prowess was sooner and later had to be given a go at the international level, and he did get his big call in 2008. 

Marsh made his ODI and T20I debuts in the 2008 season and received his Baggy Green versus Sri Lanka at Pallekele International Cricket Stadium in 2011 and scored a brilliant century. While Shaun Marsh announced himself during the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League, where he opened the batting for Kings XI Punjab to earn the Orange Cap. 

The elegant batter remained on the fringes of the Australian team for initial years, before he became a regular from early 2014. He notched three staggering Test centuries in the next couple of seasons to establish himself. Shaun’s 2017/18 Ashes series also saw him score two brilliant hundreds during Australia’s 4-0 thumping of their arch-rivals.

However, the top-order batter didn’t find himself sealing a spot in the limited-overs set-up, due to cutthroat competition there. When the likes of David Warner and Steve Smith are out due to a year ban, after the sand-paper gate, Shaun smoked four ODI centuries in 12 months to get himself into the 2019 World Cup squad. But again he found his way out of the ODI team after he got inconsistent and others did superbly well. 

The Western Australian may find it tough to bag a spot in the Australian white-ball teams, but he is a Big Bash League. At BBL, he represents Melbourne Renegades and is in the top five on the all-time BBL run-scoring list, nearing 2000 career runs. 

At 38, Shaun Marsh may be at the twilight of his career but he surely has a lot more to offer to the game. He would be looking to contribute to another Ashes win when England tour Australia in the summer of 2021-22.

(As of November 2021)