Mitchell Starc.
Mitchell Starc. Image Credit: X

The left-arm pacer of Australia, Mitchell Starc, enjoyed a decent opening week of the Border Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 at the Optus Stadium in Perth against India when he picked up a couple of wickets in the first innings in the form of Yashasvi Jaiswal and KL Rahul. 

Mitchell Starc, however, struggled to find the right line and length in the second innings, including just one wicket of Rahul, besides being thumped for 111 runs in 26 overs, including just one maiden. The shoulders of the home side were dropped a bit after they faced a 295-run heavy defeat.

The loss hampered the route to the World Test Championship (WTC) 2023-25 final qualification next year. The veteran has enjoyed the conditions of the pink ball, especially at the Adelaide Oval, having been the leading wicket-taker in the prospect.

Mitchell Starc again made a superb start in the first innings of the second fixture, wrapping Jaiswal on the very first ball of the encounter. The left-handed batter, fresh from his 161-run knock, was looking to guide the leg-sided ball for a boundary, but it shaped in to hit him straight before the stumps.

Also Read: Shaheen Afridi To Lose Central Contract 2024-25? Former Pakistan Pacer Gives Stern Warning

That flashed the memories of how Rory Burns saw his stumps cartwheeling on the very first ball of the opening Ashes Test in 2021/22. Coming back for his second spell, the left-handed pacer soon found the outside edge of KL Rahul as the opening batter Nathan McSweeney grabbed a great catch in the slip corridor.

That was the third time the Karnataka batter was dismissed by the New South Wales pacer, having collected just 37 runs in 61 balls. This was also the third time, joint most in the longest format, that a bowler has picked up a wicket on the very first ball of a Test match.

Watch: Mitchell Starc taunted by Indian fans regarding IPL signing

On the very first ball of his third over, Mitchell Starc sent back Virat Kohli, who was a bit tentative in playing the fifth and sixth stumped line ball. He was late in withdrawing the bat, but that was enough for the bat to get the edge and fell straight into the hands of Steve Smith in the slip corridor.

But the Indian fans found their voice and cheered up the pacer when he came into the boundary line in between the overs. A video has gone viral where they were found to raise their voice for the left-arm pacer. The Sydney-born was teased and taunted by some of the Indian fans regarding his franchise in the Indian Premier League (IPL).

Mitchell Starc was part of the winning team, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), in the previous edition of the event when he was bought by the management for a price of INR 24.75 crore, the costliest by then.

Also Read: Watch- Virat Kohli Stunned As His Amazing Six Off Mitchell Starc Hits A Security Guard Near The Boundary

The 34-year-old was making a return into the 20-over league after nine years and ended up with 17 scalps in 13 innings at an average of 26.11 and a strike rate of 14.7 with an economy rate of just under 11. His timely wickets in the powerplay and especially in the death overs helped the franchise a lot to get ahead of the opponent sides.

However, there was a change in the team for the veteran during the recent 2024 IPL auction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where the KKR opened the bid with INR 2 crore and fought with the Mumbai Indians at the start before the Delhi Capitals (DC) joined them in the party. The latter signed the player, finally, for a price of INR 11.75 crore.