Australia made the shock decision to leave Mitchell Starc out of their XI for their must-win match against Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup.

Starc was one of three changes for the Australian side who were forced to leave out captain Aaron Finch and Tim David due to injury, replaced by Cameron Green and Steve Smith respectively.

Starc’s omission for Kane Richardson, however, was far more eye-catching as it was seemingly tactical in nature with reportedly Starc fit for selection.

Historically, Starc has been the star of Australia’s T20I attack with the rest of the side built around him. The big-swinging yorker is his trademark. Only Adam Zampa has taken more T20I wickets for Australia,  and he is Australia’s leading wicket-taker in T20 World Cups. He was the leading wicket-taker in the last two 50-over World Cups. And he played a big part in Australia’s victory over Ireland, taking two wickets in his first over as Andrew Balbirnie’s side lost five wickets early on.

However, that game also hints to why Starc’s position wasn’t secure: he ended up conceding over 10 an over as Ireland almost came back into the game. And in recent years, Starc’s record has been far from impressive.

In his 58-match T20I career, he has a career economy rate of 7.63, but that has been 8.51 in his last 29 games, compared to 6.76 in his first 29. Similarly, his average and strike-rate in the first half of his career was 18.52 and 16.6. The corresponding numbers in the second-half of his career, since the start of 2020, read as 28.24 and 19.9.

In this World Cup, Starc’s use with the new-ball has decreased with Australia opting to go with Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins with the new ball. In his three matches this tournament, Starc has averaged 34.00 with the ball and had an economy of 8.50. Cummins presents another issue. Hazlewood is now established as one of the best T20 quicks in the world, so Cummins is the only other bowler who could miss out, if Australia are determined to fit in Richardson. But Cummins is now effectively Australian cricket’s figurehead, and offers marginally more with the bat than Starc too.

According to CricViz, 2022 has seen Starc bowl just 35 per cent of his deliveries in the powerplay, the lowest figure of any calendar year in his career and has taken just four Powerplay wickets since the start of 2021.

Due to Starc’s loss of form, Australia took the decision to replace him with Richardson, a bowler they believed to be better suited to the challenges Australia would face given they already have strong new-ball options in Hazlewood and Cummins.

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