India will play 3 ODIs and 5 T20Is in Australia starting October 19.
He, however, added that it won’t take anything away from the ‘rivalry’ and ‘respect’ between the teams.
Marsh will skipper Australia in the three-ODI and five-T20I series, with Pat Cummins out of the 50-over squad due to injury. A large part of his role would be to keep his squad focused on the task at hand, rather than the buildup to the Ashes, which is known to distract both Australian and English players.
“We’ll have all the guys building towards the Ashes, but everyone loves playing against India. We’ve got a great rivalry and great respect for them as a team. I think it’s literally perfect timing to be playing against India in the lead-up to an Ashes series. It’s going to be massive," Marsh told Fox Sports.
Marsh had previously said that such a bilateral series allows the Australian team to build its depth and find the best combinations in the months-long buildup towards a World Cup.
"I think the ODI World Cup is still a long way away, so you're still sort of building out that team, and we know that with certainty for all three of our format players, it's a near impossible thing to play all games," Marsh said in an interview in Brisbane last month.
“But that always brings opportunity to, like you said, keep creating as much depth as we possibly can and keep giving guys opportunities. And there’s obviously a big focus on the T20 World Cup (next year). It feels like every game from now on is really important to us, figuring out what our best team is, while still trying to create as much depth as we can, because we know there’s a lot of cricket left until we get there. The build-up to the World Cup is really exciting, and I can’t wait to get over there," he had added.
The ODI series will be played from October 19 to 25, while the T20I series will be played from October 29 to November 8.