As Australia secured a three-wicket victory in the 2023 ICC World Cup semi-final match against South Africa, their pace spearhead, Mitchell Starc produced his best performance of the competition. Now, he is preparing to take on the ‘best’ team of the competition in the final – India.
Starc was lethal with the new ball against the Proteas, picking up the wickets of the opposition skipper Temba Bavuma, and an in-form Aiden Markram, in his first spell. He later returned to add a third wicket to his tally by sending Keshav Maharaj packing, and eventually ended up with figures of 10-1-34-3.
That, however, was not all Starc did in this latch. With his team once struggling at 174/6 in a 213-run chase, Starc played a crucial hand of unbeaten 16 runs from 38 deliveries.
Courtesy of his all-round performance, Australia will now face India in the final on Sunday (19 November). On being asked about taking on India’s spectacular batting unit, and especially the opening pair of Rohit Sharma and Shubman Gill, Starc said “It is why we play the game. We want to take on the best. India have been the best team in the tournament so far, and we both find ourselves in the finals. This is what World Cups are about. You want to take on the best.”
We are coming up against a team that has been led from the front throughout the tournament and they are undefeated. We played them in the first game of the tournament, and now we get to take them on in the last. What a place to be at the end of a World Cup.
Everyone Is Looking Forward to the Occasion: Mitchell Starc
Around 130,000 spectators are expected to flock to Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium to witness the event. When Starc was asked about tackling pressure on such a big occasion, he replied:
“It is certainly going to be a big occasion. A World Cup final in India – it is going to be loud. There is going to be a lot of passion. No doubt, there is going to be different amounts of pressure at different times on both teams. But I think it's just going to be a great spectacle of cricket. And certainly, everyone in our changing room is looking forward to the occasion.”
The 2023 final will have an added context to the match, with India looking to avenge the defeat from two decades ago. The two teams met in the 2003 World Cup final at Johannesburg, where the Aussies handed Sourav Ganguly-led India a comprehensive 125-run defeat.
Enquired about his recollections of the match, Starc stated he has very little, saying “I was probably asleep. I can't remember what I did two weeks ago. Apart from Australia winning, I don't know what happened in that game.”
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