Picture Credit: Cricket Australia
Left-arm quick Mitchell Starc will be one of the key members of the Australian squad which begins its title defence in the ICC Men's T20 World Cup at home later this month. While Starc is one of those pacers on whom the captain can rely be it at any stage of the game or whenever the team is in need of a breakthrough, in the second T20I against West Indies, not only did he show his brilliance with the ball in hand but also displayed a great piece of fielding off his own bowling to dismiss the West Indies opener.
It all unfolded in the very first over of the West Indies innings. After conceding 178 runs, the Caribbean openers had walked out to the middle hoping to steer the team to a series-levelling win. However, they were pushed on the backfoot in the opening over from Starc itself who bowled brilliant line and length not giving an easy run to the opposition. In the fifth ball of the over, which wasn't his best delivery as it was a full toss, Starc grabbed a superb catch on his follow-through.
West Indies batter Kyle Mayers' had timed the drive sweetly but it went straight to the bowler who took an alert catch, anticipating it nicely and completing it keeping his eyes on the ball. "HOW?! Starc scoops up a classic caught and bowled to send Mayers packing! #AUSvWI," the video of the catch which was shared by Cricket Australia was captioned.
Take a look:
After losing the wicket of Mayers early, the West Indies could never recover and kept on losing wickets at regular intervals. All of this meant that the required run rate also escalated simultaneously which snatched the game away from them in no time. With the visitors needing 50 runs off the last 2 overs, it now seems unlikely that the Men from the Caribbean will be able to level the series as they have also lost 6 wickets.
Starc has been the best bowler for Australia on the day, scalping 3 wickets for 16 runs already. Earlier, David Warner's 75 off 41 and Tim David's 42 off 20 had powered the Aussies to 178/7.
