Mitchell Starc shrugs off Rohit Sharma's brutal 29-run assault in T20 World Cup with 'bad balls' claim

Veteran Australian bowler Mitchell Starc recalled his experience against Indian skipper Rohit Sharma in the Super Eight match during the recent T20 World Cup 2024. Mitchell Starc stated that he bowled five bad deliveries in an over and added that Rohit Sharma smashed all of them to boundaries in that game.

Rohit Sharma played a match-winning half-century against Australia in the Super Eight encounter in St Lucia. The Indian skipper scored 92 runs off 41 balls, including seven boundaries and eight sixes. Rohit Sharma was named "Player of the Match" after defeating the Mitchell Marsh-led team by 24 runs.

The 37-year-old showed an aggressive approach despite Virat Kohli's dismissal without scoring in the second over. Rohit changed the match in India's favor by registering 29 runs off Mitchell Starc. The right-handed batter smashed Starc with four sixes and two boundaries in the third over, which also included a wide.

The veteran opener hit two consecutive sixes off the first two deliveries. He smashed four and six off the next two deliveries. Mitchell Starc bowled a dot ball on the fifth delivery followed by a wide. Rohit finished the over by hitting another six at third man off a full toss on the final ball of the over.

The left-arm fast bowler conceded 45 runs in his four overs in the match against the Rohit Sharma-led team. Overall, his performance in the tournament was lackluster, managing only five wickets from five matches at an average of 31.60 and an economy rate of 8.78 with his best bowling figures were 2/20.

Rohit Sharma Had A Good Tournament - Mitchell Starc

Talking on LiSTNR Sport, a popular sports podcast, Mitchell Starc mentioned how Rohit Sharma used conditions to score runs. Starc stated that they conceded close to par score and described it as the best wicket Australia played on in the World Cup.

"I've played a lot against him. He had a good tournament, especially back end. I think that he targeted that wind in St Lucia as well. That was at one end, I think. If you look at the runs from each end, it was probably the one end that went for a lot more than the other. I think I had five bad balls, and he hit them all for six. We thought that it was close to par perhaps, maybe a little bit over par, but it was the best wicket in the World Cup I think, that we all played on," Starc said.

In the previous match, Mitchell Starc was replaced by Ashton Agar against Afghanistan. Agar performed well by conceding only 17 runs in his four overs. However, Australia lost the match by 21 runs. The Mitchell Marsh-led team was eliminated from the recently concluded tournament after losing to India.

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