Why Mitchell Starc not playing today: Why is Tim David not playing today’s T20 World Cup match between Australia and Afghanistan in Adelaide?

Australia are up against Afghanistan in their last Super-12 match of the ICC T20 World Cup 2022 at the Adelaide Oval in Adelaide. Matthew Wade is captaining the side in the absence of their regular captain Aaron Finch, whereas Tim David and Mitchell Starc have also missed out.

Afghanistan won the toss and their captain Mohammad Nabi opted to bowl first. Rashid Khan was a doubt for the match due to his injury, but Nabi confirmed that Rashid is fit to play. Afghanistan are already out of the tournament, and they will aim to end the tournament with a win.

Matthew Wade also said that he would have also bowled first upon winning the toss as they have chased a lot in the recent past. He said that the Australian team is not thinking about NRR at the moment and their focus is on winning the game as a priority.

Why Mitchell Starc not playing today

Matthew Wade is captaining the Australian side in their match against Afghanistan, and he confirmed three changes at the toss. Steve Smith, Cameron Green and Kane Richardson came in for Aaron Finch, Tim David and Mitchell Starc in the playing eleven.

“Finch is out, so is Tim David. Starc makes way for Kane Richardson. Green and Smith are in. It’d have been nice if we hadn’t put ourselves in these positions, we’ve been here before,” Matthew Wade said at the toss.

Tim David was certainly facing a race against time to be fit for this crunch game for Australia. He injured his hamstring while batting against Ireland in the last match, and did not step on the field for a single over in the Irish innings. Although, Finch said that it was a precautionary measure, but it is certainly not the case.

However, the axing of Mitchell Starc is a bit of a surprise as there are no injury concerns reported about him at the moment. Starc has been average in this T20 World Cup, where he has scalped 3 wickets in 3 games at an economy of 8.50. Richardson played in the warm-up match against India ahead of the World Cup, and he delivered a brilliant performance.