Melbourne [Australia], July 11 (ANI): Australian pacer Mitchell Starc on Thursday opened up on team management’s decision to drop him in a crucial ICC T20 World Cup Super Eights clash against Afghanistan, and also dropped a hint about his future in this format of the sport.
Starc was speaking at the Willow Talk podcast on Thursday.
Speaking on the podcast, Starc said that the decision to drop him was because of the playing conditions in St Vincent where spin played a big part. Spin-bowling all-rounder Ashton Agar was brought into the side instead of him.
“No – two World Cups in a row (on being dropped for the games against Afghanistan, including one during 2022 T20 WC). Just the match-up, they saw previous games on that ground in St Vincent with spin playing a part and obviously Ash (Ashton Agar) and the left-armer enticing them to make a change. I think Ash bowled pretty well in the power play. They (Afghanistan) probably played the spin quite well and batting first probably assessed the conditions a little bit better than we did, and had a couple of stumbles that in the end cost us the game,” said Starc.
Speaking of whether he will play in the 2026 T20 WC, which will be hosted by India and Sri Lanka, Starc expressed some uncertainty regarding his future in T20Is.
“I do not know, probably I will sit on the fence on that,” he said.
Starc has represented Australia in 65 T20Is since his debut in the format in 2012, taking 79 wickets at an average of 23.81, with the best figures of 4/20.
The defeat against Afghanistan, followed by a big loss to India, sent Australia packing out of the tournament. Their elimination was fully confirmed as Afghanistan beat Bangladesh to book their semifinal spot, along with India from Super Eights Group one.
Speaking about being hit for 29 runs by Indian skipper Rohit Sharma during the Super Eights stage, including four big sixes, Starc said, “I have played lot against Rohit, he had a great tournament, especially backend, he targeted the wind, I had 5 bad balls and he hit all for sixes.”
The Australian quick was also critical of the pre-seeding during the Super Eights stage, which meant Australia was given the B2 position in Super Eights stage despite being the table toppers in league stage Group B. England, which finished at second spot in Group B, was pre-allocated the B1 position in Super Eights and they were in the Group two of Super Eights alongside South Africa, West Indies and Bangladesh.
Starc was critical of the logistics and pre-seedings, saying, “We finished ahead of England and end up where we were pre-seeded as the second side. All of a sudden, you are in a different group. The argument was it was because it was so hard to get around the West Indies, so fans knew where your team was playing.”
“So then why do not you have the chock-a-block tournament at the front … and then spread it out at the back end? We had the two night games and the third was a day game, so it was not the best preparation. We had a delayed flight out of St Vincent, it was a 90-minute drive from the airport to the hotel in St Lucia, and then we had a 10 o’clock,” Starc added.
On travelling through Caribbean, the pacer said, “Travel around the West Indies is probably not the easiest thing to do, certainly not to travel home from.” (ANI)
