Mitchell Starc tears apart Pat Cummins and Mitchell Marsh for deliberately benching him against Afghanistan

Left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc opened up about his exclusion from Australia's playing XI for the Super 8 match against Afghanistan in the recently concluded T20 World Cup 2024. Mitchell Starc stated that the decision might have been influenced by the pitch conditions favoring spin bowling in Kingstown.

Australia decided to omit Mitchell Starc from the Super 8 match against Afghanistan. The Australia team management picked left-arm spinner Ashton Agar, who bowled economically but struggled to take wickets. The 2021 T20 World champions lost the match by 21 runs while chasing a target of 148 in Kingstown.

The Mitchell Marsh-led team then lost to eventual champions India in their final Super Eight match. The Australian team suffered elimination from the tournament without reaching the semifinal stage. Notably, Australia also failed to reach the top four stage in the 2022 edition of the tournament on home soil.

Two World Cups In A Row - Mitchell Starc

Speaking on the Willow Talk podcast, Mitchell Starc attributed Australia's loss to their own mistakes in fielding and batting. Starc emphasized that Afghanistan assessed the conditions better, which led to Australia's defeat in the match.

"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-arm 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," Starc said.

Australia's team management rotated their bowlers throughout the ICC tournament. Starc picked up five wickets in five matches at an average of 31.60 and an economy rate of 8.78, with his best bowling figures being 2/20. He conceded 45 runs in his four overs during the match against the Rohit Sharma-led team.

It's worth mentioning that Australia won both the ODI World Cup in 2023 and the World Test Championship (WTC) final last year under the leadership of Pat Cummins. Mitchell Starc played a crucial role in both victories as a member of the Australian team.

We Finished Ahead Of England - Mitchell Starc

Mitchell Starc expressed frustration about Australia's scheduling and preparation issues during the T20 World Cup. He mentioned that pre-seeding affected their preparation due to logistical challenges such as delayed flights and long travel times between venues.

"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."

Mitchell Starc is expected to play for Australia in their upcoming series against England in September. The series between England and Australia will consist of three T20I matches scheduled from September 11 to 15. The five-match ODI series will be played from September 19 to 29.

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