PUNE: It was his only third ODI hundred in 83 innings. It was only the third time he faced more than 100 balls in an ODI.
Mitchell Marsh made it count with a biggie - 177 not out -that flattened Bangladesh.
Marsh, 32, son of World Cup winning player and coach Geoff - said, "It's always a great honour to score 100, but I was pretty cooked to be honest. I was just starting to cramp at that stage, so I was trying to keep my heart rate low and not exert too much energy."
He was at his attacking best on a pitch which had a nice carry.
On Australia conceding 275 plus runs frequently in this event, Marsh brought his sugar-coated defence to the fore.
"There are probably a number of things to consider here. Flat wickets, small grounds, good teams who can score big. I didn't realise how small this one was, even though I played here a little bit," said Marsh. "It's about having a mentality to keep taking wickets but understanding that when the other guys get on top, and that that's going to happen at this level, we try and chase down whatever (total) is in front of us."
On the crowds in India, he said, "I'm not sure they actually come to watch us, it's either
David Warner or
Glenn Maxwell, so yeah you sort of feel a little bit left out. When we're not playing against India, we always have good support over here. Overall, the fans are just amazing, so we feel very lucky."
We have to improve: ShantoBangladesh skipper Najmul Hossain Shanto said that they want to look at their previous nine games and work on the areas where they need to improve.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Shanto said that they had a good start in the game but lost momentum after the two run-outs in the first innings. He also added that it was disappointing since they did not play their best at the World Cup.
"We got off to a good start but lost momentum because of those run-outs. If we had scored 340-350 it would have been different. Our fast bowlers bowled really well but the spinners weren't as effective in the middle overs, we want to improve our bowling in the middle overs. It's disappointing, we didn't play our best in this tournament.
"We will see what we can do better from now on.
Mahmudullah batted really well in this World Cup and Shakib also bowled well in a couple of games. We have to improve as a team. It is not about individual performances, we want to look at the 9 games and work on areas we need to improve," Shanto said.
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