‘I had five bad balls and he hit them all for six’

Australia's journey in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup 2024 ended abruptly, as they failed to advance past the Super Eight stage. Despite dominating earlier matches, they found themselves in a critical must-win scenario against India, following a defeat to Afghanistan.

In this crucial match, Indian skipper Rohit Sharma delivered a stunning performance, scoring 92 runs off just 41 balls, effectively knocking the wind out of Australia in the early exchange.

Mitchell Starc experienced the full brunt of Rohit's assault, conceding 29 runs in a single over, including four sixes and a four.

Looking back, Starc acknowledged Rohit's exceptional performance throughout the tournament and commended him for his brilliant and strategic use of the conditions in St Lucia.

"I have played a lot against him. He had a good tournament, especially at the back end," Starc said speaking on the Willow Talk podcast hosted by Adam Peacock and Brad Haddin. "I think he targeted that wind in St Lucia as well. It was the one end that went for lot more [runs] than the other."

"I think I had five bad balls and he hit them all for six."

Starc managed to redeem himself somewhat by taking the wicket of Rohit eight runs short of a century but the Indian skipper had already inflicted significant damage by then.

In favourable batting conditions, India set a challenging target of 206 runs for Australia to chase. Travis Head, aiming to replicate his heroics from the Cricket World Cup 2023 Final, kept Australia in contention with a brisk 76 off 43 balls.

However, Jasprit Bumrah's crucial breakthrough tilted the balance and despite Head's efforts, Australia ultimately fell short by 24 runs in their pursuit.

"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," Starc added. "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 were well on track to reach the final four, going unbeaten in the tournament until they came against Afghanistan and India.

Their first stumble came against Afghanistan, who buried the ghosts of the Glenn Maxwell special and the heartbreak of CWC23 with a hard-fought 23-run victory.

When quizzed about where it all went wrong for Australia, Starc said with a smile, "Two losses [against Afghanistan and India]."

"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.

"Think our fielding was a little bit short throughout the whole tournament."

Starc had to watch the game from the sidelines as Australia opted to include Ashton Agar in the team against Afghanistan.

Reflecting on the decision, Starc admitted he wasn't pleased with being left out but understood that the spin-friendly conditions at the Arnos Vale Ground favoured Agar over him in the team selection.

"Just the match-up," Starc noted. "They saw previous games on that ground in St Vincent with spin playing a big part. Obviously, Ash [Ashton Agar] and the left-arm [option] enticed them to make a change. It is what it is."

Starc didn't take any credit away from Afghanistan, praising their tactical acumen and the ability to play spin.

"Ash bowled well in the Powerplay but they [Afghanistan] probably played spin quite well and batting first, assessed the conditions a little bit better than we did. We had a couple of little stumbles that in the end cost us the game. It just set us back. Ultimately, they played the better cricket."