"I thought it was just a regulation wicket" - Mitchell Starc on KL Rahul's controversial dismissal on Day 1 of 1st BGT 2024-25 Test

Australian pacer Mitchell Starc felt Indian opener KL Rahul's controversial dismissal on Day 1 of the first Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25 Test was nothing but a regulation wicket. On a spicy Perth wicket with excess bounce and seam movement, Rahul battled hard to score 26 off 74 deliveries.

However, his dismissal through the DRS review sparked massive controversy after initially being given not out. Despite there being a spike on the Snickometer, Rahul's bat had also hit his pad at almost the same time as when the ball passed his bat.

While the evidence wasn't conclusive, the third umpire still went ahead and overturned the not-out decision, signaling the end of Rahul. The veteran batter was visibly upset with the overturned decision as he walked back to the pavilion.

Yet, during the press conference at the end of Day 1, Starc defended the decision and felt it was a regulation nick of Rahul's bat.

"It got overturned obviously, but I thought it was regulation, the sound it made, the timing of it, I thought it was just a regulation wicket," he said.

The wicket reduced India to 47/4 in their first innings, which ultimately ended with them scoring 150.

However, the bowlers fought back to dismantle the Australian batting lineup as the hosts finished at a dismal 67/7 at stumps on Day 1.

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"It probably felt like it was a hardball wicket" - Mitchell Starc

Mitchell Starc praised the bowlers from both sides for an outstanding display on what he felt was a pitch difficult to bat on with the hard new ball.

The four Australian pacers picked up all 10 wickets with Josh Hazlewood's 4/29 leading the way. Meanwhile, India was led by skipper Jasprit Bumrah's 4/17, while Mohammed Siraj (2) and Harshit Rana (1) picked up the other three wickets.

"I think there was a fair bit of good bowling today. Obviously, there was enough in the wicket and it probably felt like it was a hardball wicket. If you can get through the testing period, it does get slightly easier," said Starc.

He added:

"When the ball started to get softer towards the back end of that Indian innings, it probably didn’t do as much. (There was) still enough there, but it didn’t do as much as the brand-new hardball. That being said, the outfield is quite slow, so that probably made runs a bit hard to come by."

Australia are in danger of losing their first-ever Test match in the new Perth Stadium, having won all four previous outings.

They still trail India's first innings total by 83 runs with Starc (6) himself batting with wicketkeeper-batter Alex Carey (19).