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Let’s not mince words too much: Mitchell Starc hasn’t
exactly performed well at the World Cup. Let’s start with the cursory
examination. Alongside Trent Boult, he shared the lead in wickets taken during
the 2015 World Cup. He dominated the wicket charts in 2019 by a significant
margin on his own.
With an economy rate of 6.55 and an average of 43.90,
Starc is ranked 24th on the list of wicket-takers in this edition of the ODI
World Cup, just missing out on the opportunity to solidify his status as one of
the greatest bowlers ever seen. It’s impossible to avoid saying this about a
bowler who is a champion, capital C.
Mitchell Starc = not good right now. The question
arising out of all this, is why?
“If you look at purely numbers, there’s been a
lot of guys across a lot of teams not have the numbers they would have
liked,” Starc said on Monday. “The wickets have certainly been two
very different wickets through the day and through the night – none more than
probably Mumbai. It’s certainly been more beneficial to swing the ball and nip
the ball under lights.”
By the way, even though it’s being held in South Asia,
this is definitely not a World Cup for spin bowlers. Adam Zampa tops the list
of wicket-takers, although six quicks from four different teams are close
behind him. Nine seam bowlers are among the top 15 wicket-takers. You would
assume that Starc would have been up there.
He isn’t even in the top four left-arm quicks, which
are Boult, Marco Jansen, Shaheen Afridi, and Dilshan Madushanka. Moreover,
Boult has not played well in the competition either, averaging 32.15 and
occasionally finding it difficult to penetrate with the new ball, which is
often his strong suit.
Starc has also had difficulty with the new ball. In
the first ten overs of the World Cup, he bowled 150 deliveries, gave up 143
runs (an economy rate of 5.56) and claimed four wickets at an average of 34.75.
Not enjoyable numbers for someone with such evident talent.
We’re going to move through them quickly since this is
an excellent cricket player and we know he has the ability to turn around the
even poorer statistics from later in the innings. This World Cup, he has
averaged 89 between overs 10 and 40 while taking just two wickets. He has taken
four wickets at an average of 8.69 an over in the final ten overs, which are
the death overs.
This version, what is wrong with him? Really, there
isn’t a data-based explanation. Superfast bowlers have reportedly had a
lacklustre tournament, but Madushanka, Lockie Ferguson, Kagiso Rabada, and
Jasprit Bumrah have really performed rather well on average. In the grand
scheme of things, Starc stands out a little.
Thus, we rely on the unpredictable: form, rhythm, and
positive energy. You just expected Starc to dominate this one as well, given
how well he performed in the two previous ODI World Cups. But he hasn’t, for
whatever reason. However, the public’s confidence in him is so great that it
would come as no surprise if he started to perform better in the knockout
stages.
Australia have trusted him repeatedly, giving him the
death overs even when he has seemed off colour. Sure, Mitchell Starc has kinda
sucked in this World Cup but if there was someone who you’d expect to come
right in a tense situation, this is the guy.