3 times Mitchell Starc troubled the Indian batting lineup
Mitchell Starc has been one of the best bowlers of this generation across formats. His best format has unequivocally been ODI cricket.
Starc's numbers speak for themselves - 219 wickets in 109 matches at an average of 21.78, an economy rate of 5.09, and a strike rate of 25.6. The left-arm seamer has 9 five-wicket hauls to his name.
He has not particularly enjoyed success against India. While his performances have largely been lackluster in Tests, he has had a few brilliant performances in ODIs.
On that note, here are the three most recent times he troubled the Indian batting lineup.
#1 5/53, Vizag 2023
Mitchell Starc takes ODI five-fors with stunning frequency 🖐️ https://t.co/xuYdCSQc0E
Mitchell Starc was breathing fire in the recently concluded 2nd ODI against India at Vishakapatnam. The visitors lost their first match by 5 wickets despite an impressive spell from Starc, making it a must-win game to stay alive in the series.
Steve Smith won the toss and elected to field first. Starc bowled an exceptional spell in the powerplay, getting rid of Shubman Gill, Rohit Sharma, and Suryakumar Yadav within the first five overs. He was getting the ball to move in the air and he also extracted some seam movement from the wicket, which had something in it for the pacers.
The left-arm pacer also dismissed KL Rahul in the powerplay and induced some false shots from Virat Kohli. After dismissing Mohammed Siraj and ending India's first innings, he brought up his second 5 wicket haul against India in the format.
#2 4/53, Adelaide 2020
India toured Australia for the second time in a row for the 2020/21 Border Gavaskar Trophy. They came into the series after winning the competition in 2018/19 - their first instance of winning a Test series on Australian soil. The first match was a pink ball Test in Adelaide.
Mitchell Starc set the tone for the Test by getting rid of the talented Prithvi Shaw in the second ball of the match. He bowled a probing spell with the pink new ball, asking the Indian top order some questions.
The 33-year-old dismissed a well-set Ajinkya Rahane for 42 runs with the second new ball when India were 196/4. He cleaned up the tail and played an important role in getting India all out for just 244 the following day.
#3 6/43, MCG 2015
Cricket Australia
#OnThisDay 18th January : Australian left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc claimed his career-best bowling figure of 6-43 - This was second best bowling figure for Australia against India at MCG in ODI's in 2015.
crichighlightsvidz.com/2020/01/mitche…
Image © Cricket Australia
#mitchellstarc https://t.co/hm4Rzc5oPt
India won the toss and elected to bat first in the second match of the Carlton Tri-Series. Coming into the match with a solid performance against England in the first game, Mitchell Starc dismissed Shikhar Dhawan for 2 runs in the first over of the innings.
He then played an integral role in the second half of the first innings by dismissing Suresh Raina (51), who had a 126-run partnership with the centurion Rohit Sharma (138) after a top-order collapse. In the death overs, he took the wickets of MS Dhoni, Axar Patel, Rohit, and Bhuvneshwar Kumar. His presence did not allow India to tee off at the death the way they would have liked.