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1st ODI: Mitchell Starc delivers horror 11-ball opening over, concedes 20 runs vs India in Sydney

Mitchell Starc struggled for rhythm as he conceded 20 runs in the opening over after bowling 11 balls in his first over in the Sydney ODI.

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Mitchell Starc conceded 20 runs in his opening over and bowled 11 balls as he struggled for his line and length.
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Mitchell Starc is considered as one of the premier bowlers in ODI cricket. The left-arm Australian pacer was not part of IPL 2020 and the bowler was lacking match practice. The rustiness and waywardness in his bowling showed on the very first over that Mitchell Starc bowled in the India innings during the ODI in Sydney on Friday. In an absolute horror show, Starc conceded 20 runs and bowled 11 balls in the first over as India got off to an ideal start on a placid track in Sydney. Australia had notched up 374/6 thanks to centuries from Aaron Finch and Steve Smith.

After bowling a good first ball which was squeezed out by Mayank Agarwal, Starc bowled a wide down the leg side. After bowling two good balls, it seemed that Starc was in good rhythm. However, things went horribly wrong for Mitchell Starc afterwards. The fourth ball was a wide and it was followed by five more wides as Alex Carey failed to collect the ball down the leg side. The misery was prolonged as Mitchell Starc conceded yet another wide, making it eight wides in four balls.

Mitchell Starc switched to round the wicket and he got his control back again as Mayank Agarwal steered a single to point. However, on the fifth ball, trouble struck again. Mitchell Starc overstepped and he was hit for a boundary by Shikhar Dhawan to deep midwicket. In the free-hit, Dhawan clobbered Starc down the ground for a boundary. The sixth ball would have also been a boundary had Dhawan not missed with the leg side flick.

Horror start

When one thinks about horror starts, one cannot go beyond the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup final between India and Australia. On a flat deck, India skipper Sourav Ganguly chose to bowl and Zaheer Khan bowled a plethora of wides to concede 15 runs in the opening over. India never recovered from that start and Australia managed to notch up 359/2 thanks to Ricky Ponting’s brilliant 140. India lost the match by 125 runs.

Starc’s misery increased in his second over as he was driven through the covers by Dhawan but he pulled it back superbly in the remaining five balls as he conceded seven runs. Yet, his economy rate remained in excess of 13.

Australia notched up a magnificent 374/6 thanks to centuries from Aaron Finch and Steve Smith. However, Australia do not have a good reputation of defending high totals as they have failed to defend 434 and 372 against South Africa on both occasions as well failing to defend scores of 359 and 350 against India in 2013. Will this be a repeat?

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