Australia’s title defence at the T20 World Cup is no longer in their own hands after a massive opening-day defeat against New Zealand dented their Net Run Rate (NRR). On Friday against Afghanistan, the team were in dire need of a win by a massive margin against Afghanistan but narrowly escaped with a four-run victory in the final over. Losing the NRR battle, they will now need Sri Lanka to defeat England on Saturday in order to qualify for the semifinals.
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Aussie greats like Michael Clarke, Adam Gilchrist, and Shane Watson questioned the side’s approach in dropping Mitchell Starc from the bowling lineup, especially when they needed to take quick wickets to win by a big margin.
“Strange one. He’s got to be injured. There’s absolutely no way you can leave him out of tonight’s game,” Clarke said on commentary per Fox Sports. “If anyone’s going to rip through Afghanistan’s batting it’s Mitchell Starc. Left arm, if it swings with the new ball and then we’ve seen his yorkers at the death. I don’t get it.”
The former Australian captain reiterated his confusion over Starc’s absence while commentating on the game. “No Mitchell Starc. I still can’t believe it to be honest. I think we saw a bit of swing. I think Starc right now with the new ball swinging back into the right-handers would’ve been lethal,” he said. “He’d have been my first bowler picked against this Afghanistan line-up.”
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On commentary, Gilchrist mentioned that Starc was left out from the side to which Watson responded: “Are we going to go there?” Former Australian cricketers Mark Waugh and Tom Moody took to Twitter to vent their frustration over the left-armer’s absence. “Starc should be playing. He is (an) aggressive wicket-taking bowler who could easily rip through Afghanistan. (Kane) Richardson more of a holding type bowler,” Vaugh tweeted.
Starc should be playing. He is a aggressive wicket taking bowler who could easily rip through Afghanistan. Richardson more of a holding type bowler.
— Mark Waugh (@juniorwaugh349) November 4, 2022
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Aussie team no Mitchell Starc. Is he injured or dropped.?
— Mark Waugh (@juniorwaugh349) November 4, 2022
Mitchell Starc dropped or just miss the team bus? #AUSvAFG #ICCT20WorldCup
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— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket) November 4, 2022
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Even Afghanistan’s coach Jonathan Trott, the former England batsman, was surprised. ”It was a little bit of a surprise to us. We’re not sure why Starc didn’t play …. Obviously, we saw Richardson marking his run-up. That was a real surprise for us – we don’t know any reason.”
Australia’s decision to drop Mitchell Starc for crunch Super 12 clash explained: https://t.co/Xvxtr4q1t7#T20WorldCup pic.twitter.com/yql78130LX
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 5, 2022
Australia assistant coach Daniel Vettori revealed that Starc was fit, and his omission was based on Kane Richardson’s superior economy rate at the death. “It was a tactical decision,” he said post-match. “We brought in Kane to play the role he executed tonight at the back-end of the powerplay, looking at the death overs where Kane has been exceptional in the past.”
