Mitchell Starc Defends Steve Smith Amid Poor Form, Says "No Concern There"

Australian star pacer Mitchell Starc defended his teammate and star batter Steve Smith amid his poor form before the start of the ICC World Cup 2023.

The ICC Cricket World Cup is going to start on the 5th of October. Teams are ready to battle against each other on the biggest platform.

Australia who are the 5 times champions of the ICC ODI World Cup have also reached India before the World Cup and are playing a 3-match ODI series against the hosts. This would help the Australian team to adapt to the situations before the World Cup.

In the ongoing 3-match ODI series, Australia have performed poorly as they lost the first two matches by huge margins. In the first match, India beat Australia by 5 wickets, and in the second match, India scored the highest ODI score against Australia and won by 99 runs [DLS Method].

There was poor performance in both the batting and bowling departments in the first two matches. It is a concern for the team management as they will start their World Cup campaign with a series of losses.

In the batting department, Steve Smith’s performance is a sign of worry for the team as the Australia legend has just scored 41 runs in 2 matches. In the 2nd match, he went for a duck.

Mitchell Starc backs Australian batter Steve Smith after his poor performance

Steve Smith’s struggles began earlier in the Test series held in February-March, where he scored only 145 runs in four Test matches. After his two back-to-back failures in the ongoing ODI series against India, his teammate Mitchell Starc has backed him.

On asking about Smith’s current form, Starc said (as quoted by TOI),” No His (Smith) numbers speak for himself”.

“He (Smith) has been a high-class player and has been a massive part of all formats for Australia, so no concern there. It is the adjustment factor, coming back to India after a series in South Africa, some guys are coming off a break,” Mitchell Starc said to the reporters.

Mitchell Starc is supposed to come back in the 3rd ODI match against India in Rajkot on Wednesday.

“I think we have seen the wickets change throughout both the games, depending on who batted first and in different places. Spin was a massive factor in the second innings the other night (in Indore). We played pretty well under lights in Mohali,” Starc said.

”We have a got a lot of guys with IPL experience, we know that the wickets are going to be very different through the night and day, depending on which part of India we play as well- not too many grounds we have played to back so, conditions are going to play a part,” Starc added.

Starc believes that the third ODI and the two subsequent warm-up matches will give them enough time to get ready for the tournament properly.