"He’s just a magician with the pink ball" - Former Australian cricketer hails Mitchell Starc for his 6-wicket haul in 2nd BGT 2024-25 Test
Former Australian legend Matthew Hayden showered praise on Mitchell Starc, calling him a magician with the pink ball. The left-arm pacer single-handedly bulldozed India's line-up in the second Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 Test with a six-wicket haul.
Starc struck with his first delivery of the match, dismissing Yashasvi Jaiswal LBW. He then got the better of KL Rahul and Virat Kohli in quick succession to put the visiting side on the back foot.
The New South Wales pacer then dismissed Ravichandran Ashwin and Harshit Rana before getting the better of Nitish Kumar Reddy to complete his six-wicket haul. Riding on Starc's brilliance with the pink ball, the Aussies bundled out India for just 180 runs in the first innings.
Speaking to the host broadcaster, Hayden stated that he was surprised to see the pink ball swing that much out of Starc's hand. However, he reckoned that the veteran speedster used momentum to great effect, before labeling him a pink ball magician.
“He has that scrambled seam delivery that goes across the right-hander, but when he does have that ability—which he did—I must admit I was a little surprised," Hayden said via India Today. "I’ve never really seen the pink ball swing into the sort of 40th over and so aggressively swing as well."
"By that stage, he used a really important word, and it’s a bit of an underrated word as well, and that’s ‘momentum.’ It was all in favor of India. A difficult position to come back from in life and sport is those opportunities to wrestle back momentum, and Mitchell Starc did that in only the way he can—when the lights are like the way they are and with that beautiful-colored ball in his hand. He’s just a magician with the pink ball," he added.
Mitchell Starc recorded career best figures of 6/48 in Adelaide on Friday. He has scalped 57 wickets in 20 Tests at an average of 35.49 against India.
"I thought their first maybe 20 overs, they were very conservative" - Matthew Hayden feels Australia bowled in two halves
After an excellent start to the match courtesy of Mitchell Starc's first-ball strike, the hosts' grip on the match slipped as KL Rahul and Shubman Gill took control of the proceedings. However, once Starc came back to dismiss Rahul in the 19th over, the tide shifted in Australia's favor and there was no stopping the Aussie bowlers. Besides Starc's six-wicket haul, Pat Cummins and Scott Boland returned with two wickets apiece.
Matthew Hayden stated that Australia bowled in two halves, and the second half is the reason why the home side find themselves in an advantageous position after Day 1.
“I think Australia bowled in two halves, to be honest," the former opener stated. "I thought their first maybe 20 overs, they were very conservative. It was like they knew that the pink ball was going to start to swing. And when Scott Boland came around and just started getting into the line of the stumps, that was the turnaround."
"Around about that 35th over, we saw some of those missiles that Mitchell Starc started. That was 45, 50 overs in, and it started to swing. That’s what earned them the strong position they find themselves in today,” Hayden concluded.
After Australia's heroics with the ball, the batters responded well despite losing Usman Khawaja cheaply. Nathan McSweeney (38*) and Marnus Labuschagne (20*) put up a 62-run partnership. At the end of Day 1, Australia are well-placed at 86/1 after 33 overs.