IND v AUS 2020: Captain Aaron Finch backs under-performing Mitchell Starc

Australian captain Aaron Finch has thrown his weight behind under-fire Mitchell Starc, who was pounced by the Indian batsmen in the first two ODIs.

Australia took an unassailable lead against Virat Kohli and co. on Sunday when they defeated them by 51 runs. In the second game, every Australian bowler, including part-timers Glenn Maxwell and Moises Henriques, took at least one wicket. Mitchell Starc, on the other hand, went for 82 runs in his 9 overs.

Even in the previous encounter, Mitchell Starc recorded the costliest bowling figures behind Maxwell and only took one wicket (Mohammed Shami).

Runs are runs and winning is a habit, whatever the format, so the Australians are confident they will take a big psychological edge into the Test series #AUSvIND https://t.co/qmqp4scjis

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 30, 2020

India have apparently come up with a tactic to take on Mitchell Starc's left-arm quick deliveries early on in the power-play.

The 30-year-old has struggled to find his line and length and has seen his deliveries getting creamed through the off-side too many times.

However, Mitchell Starc's white-ball captain, Aaron Finch, showed complete faith in him, saying:

“I think hes going OK. He hasn't been at his very best and you have to understand that his standards are a lot higher than what you expect from most other people because of how dominant he's been the last eight, nine years -- especially in the white-ball formats."

Aaron Finch not panicking over Mitchell Starc's performances

The long-sleeve version of Australia's Indigenous T20 kit 😍😍 pic.twitter.com/cBtqYGXAR5

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 30, 2020

Evidently, Mitchell Starc doesn't like to play against India all that much as his average in ODI cricket against them slips to 39.53 against a career average of 23. Starc's strike rate and economy of 39.06 and 6.07 against India are also his worst numbers among all other opponents.

Aaron Finch added that his team will have talks with Mitchell Starc to see what's wrong. He said:

“There will be some conversations had today about what we can do slightly different, whether it's a tactical thing, when we're using him through the innings. But there's definitely no panic stations from my point of view.”

India will engage Australia in a dead-rubber in Canberra on 2nd December before moving on to the T20I and Test series, which will start on 4th and 17th December, respectively.