Mitchell Starc Talks About Facing Rohit Sharma in ICC T20 World Cup 2024

New Delhi [India], July 13: Australia’s left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc shared his thoughts on his face-off with India’s captain Rohit Sharma during their Super 8 match in the ICC T20 World Cup 2024. Australia’s journey in the tournament ended in the Super Eight stage after a crucial loss to India.

In the decisive match, Rohit Sharma delivered an outstanding performance, scoring 92 runs off just 41 balls. Starc faced a tough over, conceding 29 runs, including four sixes and a four. Reflecting on the game, Starc praised Rohit’s strategic use of the conditions in St Lucia.

Starc said, “I have played a lot against him. He had a good tournament, especially at the back end. I think he targeted that wind in St Lucia as well. It was the one end that went for a lot more [runs] than the other. I think I had five bad balls and he hit them all for six.”

Although Starc managed to dismiss Rohit eight runs short of a century, the damage was already done. India set a challenging target of 206 runs. Travis Head’s 76 off 43 balls kept Australia in the game, but Jasprit Bumrah’s crucial breakthrough led to Australia’s 24-run defeat.

Starc added, “We thought it [target] was close to par, maybe a little bit over par but it was the best wicket at the World Cup that we played on. It was probably the quickest wicket. (It was) certainly chaseable, we were on target for a while and a couple of hiccups and some good bowling from them just set us back.”

Australia’s campaign saw them unbeaten until losses to Afghanistan and India. Starc noted, “Two losses [against Afghanistan and India]. Think our fielding was a little bit short throughout the whole tournament.” He concluded, “The last two games that we played wasn’t our best cricket and not the result we wanted. It was probably a misread of conditions in that Afghanistan game. They obviously played some good cricket and we probably didn’t play our best.”