Mitchell Starc, an Australian pacer, has voiced his dissatisfaction at being left out of the team for the vital T20 World Cup Super Eights match in the Caribbean against Afghanistan. He claims that the team management’s choice did not amuse him in the slightest.
The unexpected 21-run loss to Afghanistan, the 2021 T20 World Cup champions, severely damaged Australia’s hopes of making it to the semifinals.
Ashton Agar was Australia’s replacement for Starc for the game, however even though the left-arm spinner held down the Afghan batsmen, he was unable to claim any wickets.
“No — two World Cups in a row,” Starc was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald on Willow Talk podcast when quizzed about his omission and whether he was amused by the decision.
“Just the match-up, they (team management) saw previous games on that ground in St Vincent with spin playing a part and obviously Ash (Ashton) and the left-armer enticing them to make a change,” he added.
The Australian bowler was dropped for the second time in a row for a T20 World Cup match against Afghanistan; the first incident was in Adelaide in 2022, when the hosts also lost to Afghanistan in the round of sixteen.
Agar, along with the two Australian pace spearheads, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins, failed to sever the 118-run partnership that opened with Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Ibrahim Zadran.
“I think Ash bowled pretty well in the powerplay. They 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.
“It was probably the fielding that cost us again that game. That meant we had to win against India and we fell short there as well.”
Australia was subsequently eliminated from the competition after losing to India in the Super Eights.
In addition, Starc voiced his dissatisfaction with the tournament’s scheduling and pre-seeding, which allowed them to go to the pre-selected group even though they had won the group stage.
“We finished ahead of England (in the group stage) and end up where we were pre-seeded as the second side. All of a sudden, you’re 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 don’t 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 wasn’t 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 toss.
He added that the travelling between venues in the West Indies is always difficult.
“I think that was probably maybe a misread [by organisers], the fact that the front half of the tournament was more spread out, and then you hit the super eights and … travel around the West Indies is probably not the easiest thing to do, certainly not to travel home from.”
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