Mitchell Starc opens up on not playing against Afghanistan in consecutive T20 WC fixtures

Australia's pace spearhead Mitchell Starc has weighed in on his axe in the T20 World Cup 2024 match against Afghanistan in Kingstown. The 34-year-old feels Australia's poor fielding and batting were the factors that cost them.

For the second time in a T20 World Cup game against Afghanistan, Australia did not play Starc, having done so in the 2022 edition too. The game in Kingstown saw them prefer left-arm spinner Ashton Agar, who bowled economically but failed to pick wickets. The 2021 T20 World champions eventually lost by 21 runs while chasing 148.

Speaking on the Willow Talk podcast, Starc lauded Afghanistan players for playing spin well in tough batting conditions and lamented Australia's mistakes. He elaborated:

"No – two World Cups in a row. Just the match-up, they saw previous games on that ground in St Vincent with spin playing a part and obviously Ash and the left-armer enticing them to make a change. I think Ash bowled pretty well in the power play. 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."

The defeat against Afghanistan, followed by another one against India, pushed Australia to the brink of elimination. Mitchell Marsh and company were eliminated after Afghanistan beat Bangladesh to seal a spot in the semi-finals.

"All of a sudden, you’re in a different group" - Mitchell Starc laments Australia's pre-seeding

Starc also expressed agitation with Australia's pre-seeding and scheduling, causing their preparations to be insufficient. He added:

"We finished ahead of England 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," Starc said.

The New South Wales cricketer is likely to be in action when Australia take on England in September.