India vs Australia: My plan hasn’t changed for 13 years, says Mitchell Starc after taking 5-wicket haul

Mitchell Starc reaffirmed that one should not necessarily tinker with plans to achieve success. The Australia speedster ran through India’s top order to claim a five-wicket haul to keep the ODI series alive.

Australia handed India a shocking 10-wicket defeat in the second match in Visakhapatnam to level the three-match series. The architect of Australia’s stunning win was Starc, who returned with 5/53 in eight overs.

Starc gave Australia a dream start, dismissing Shubman Gill and Rohit Sharma before denting India’s innings by removing Suryakumar Yadav and KL Rahul. Starc, who also bowled a maiden over, finished with the wicket of Mohammed Siraj as India were bundled out for just 117 in 26 overs.

In reply, openers Travis Head (51*) and Mitchell Marsh (66*) chased down the target in just 11 overs. Talking about his plans, Starc said that for 13 years he has not changed his approach and always looks to take early wickets in the powerplay.

“My plan hasn’t changed for 13 years: bowl full, hit the stumps, try and swing it,” Starc said after Australia’s win. “That’s been my role for a long time, to try and get wickets up front in the Powerplay.

“At times that means I’m probably more expensive, but I’m trying to bring in all modes of dismissal. So it’s certainly not a new game plan these last two games. When you’ve got a powerhouse batting unit that India do have, if you can take wickets in the Powerplay, it means we sort of control the game in some respects, which is what we did.”

Starc admitted that the 50-over World Cup is in Australia’s mind, but stressed that the visitors are first eyeing to win the ODI series against India.

“We now move on to Chennai, where we’ve got a chance (in) the decider … once we get past that game and then it’s probably more of a focus on the World Cup,” Starc said.

“There’s parts of this series where the World Cup will be in the back of your mind, but I think predominantly for this group, we’ve still got a chance to win a one-day series in India, which is pretty special.”