"They think easy runs down the leg side" - Sanjay Manjrekar analyzes Mitchell Starc's uncanny ability to claim first-ball wickets

Former India cricketer Sanjay Manjrekar reckons that Mitchell Starc has an uncanny ability to take first-ball wickets because he foxes batters into believing that a ball pitching on leg stump will go further down. On the contrary, he manages to bring the ball back and catch batters off guard.

Starc picked up a wicket with the first ball of a Test match for a record-equaling third time when he trapped India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal leg before in the Adelaide Test on Friday, December 6. A delivery that pitched on leg stump swung back late to beat the batter's flick.

With the dismissal, the Aussie pacer joined former West Indies fast bowler Pedro Collins as the only bowlers to have taken a wicket with the first ball of a Test match thrice. Starc had earlier dismissed Rory Burns with the first ball of the 2021-22 Ashes in Brisbane. He had also sent back Dimuth Karunaratne first ball of a Test in Galle in 2016.

In a video on ESPNcricinfo, Manjrekar compared Starc's first-ball dismissals of Burns (bowled) and Jaiswal and explained why the Aussie left-arm pacer's opening delivery poses such a threat. While observing clips of both dismissals, he opined that batters fall into a trap because they see the ball in the air on leg stump and think that the delivery will keep going down with the angle. Manjrekar elaborated:

"Just watch the ball closely. In the air, it seems like it is going down the leg side, but finishes on leg stump and goes on to hit leg stump. It's not one of those boomerang swinging deliveries that starts outside leg stump in the air and takes the off stump out.

"Jaiswal hasn't been beaten from the outside edge. He's just played over it. I guess the reason for that is they see the ball outside leg stump in the air and they think easy runs down the leg side. 'Let me just clip this for a couple of runs'. So, they are not really looking at that ball as a wicket-taking dangerous delivery. Happened to Rory Burns. Happened to Jaiswal as well," he added.

The 59-year-old urged batters to show better awareness against deliveries from Starc that seem to be going down the leg side as they come back after pitching.

"I guess a little more awareness of this peculiar talent that Starc has where the ball seems to be going down the leg side, [but] just comes back in and gets you to relax a little bit. And that's how he gets the wickets," Manjrekar concluded.

Having lost Jaiswal first-ball, India ended up being bowled out for 180 in 44.1 overs. In response, Australia went to stumps at 86-1.

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Mitchell Starc registered career-best figures on Day 1 of pink-ball Test

Having made a great start to the pink-ball Test against India in Adelaide, Starc ended up registering his career-best figures of 6-48 from 14.1 overs. Apart from Jaiswal, he also dismissed KL Rahul for 37 and Virat Kohli for seven.

The 34-year-old returned later in the innings to pick up three lower-order wickets. He got the scalps of Ravichandran Ashwin (22), Harshit Rana (0) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (42).