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Mitchell Starc served a death-bowling masterclass to help the hosts snatch a thrilling win from the Rajasthan Royals after the scores were tied at 188 in Delhi.
Mitchell Starc celebrates with teammates after the dismissal of Rajasthan Royals’ Dhruv Jurel (Picture credit: AP)
Delhi Capitals skipper Axar Patel has lauded his star pacer Mitchell Starc, praising his capability to generate reverse swing even under pressure, while assuring the former that he would be able to defend the target that was set by the batters to a rampaging band of Rajasthan Royals batters.
Starc served a death-bowling masterclass to help Delhi snatch a thrilling victory from Rajasthan’s hands.
With Rajasthan requiring only 31 from the last three overs, it looked all but over for DC. But Starc’s three overs, including a nerve-wracking Super Over, took DC to a dramatic victory over RR.
“Getting reverse swing is one thing, but executing it is very important. It was reversing, but at that time, under pressure, he was executing it,” Axar said while speaking at the post-match press conference.
“I was just reminding him to be clear with his plans and trust himself. I was getting the same response: ‘Don’t worry, skip. I’ll do it,” Axar added.
Starc gave away only eight runs in the 18th over, including a toe-crushing in-swinging yorker to dismiss the set batter Nitish Rana.
Starc returned in the Super Over and held RR to only 11 runs, despite bowling a no-ball, thanks to a brilliant display of yorkers at searing pace. This was after Starc was smacked for 19 runs in his second over earlier in the night.
“When he bowled the 18th, I felt that he was executing the yorkers well. And the way T20 is being played, you can be hit in the powerplay, but how you come back is what matters,” Axar said.
The Delhi captain said that the lack of grass on the tracks and lifting the longstanding ban on the use of saliva, first imposed during COVID-19, has made it a level playing field for bowlers.
Several pacers had reiterated that not using saliva was restricting the use of reverse swing, after which it was lifted by the IPL last month.
“Since we can use saliva this season and since there isn’t much grass on the surface, you can get the ball to reverse,” Axar said.
