Starc picked his ninth five-wicket haul. ©AFP
In the end, it wasn't the rain. It was left-arm swing.
A game of cricket that beat a despairing weather forecast lasted only 37 overs. That isn't even 50% of what the folks in Visakhapatnam had turned up to watch in their first ODI in three years. No wonder they didn't want to leave. Long after the post-match presentation was done and a black tarpaulin sheet had covered the square, thousands of spectators hung around in the stands perhaps trying to make sense of what they had just witnessed. India had been bowled out for their fourth lowest total at home but luckily for the crowd, they could go home bearing witness to a bowling masterclass from Mitchell Starc. Sean Abbott aptly called it a "clinic".
To be honest, it didn't feel like one of those days, you know, when you anticipate Starc to run in and ride roughshod over the opposition. Instead, it was nice and bright after a nervous night of rain for the organizers, and a straw-coloured pitch promised to bring relief to the batters on the back of a tough surface in Mumbai. But as it turned out, the surface conditions barely contributed to the challenge that India came up short against.
The wicket in Visakhapatnam had bounce, yes, and the batters in the past here have used that to their advantage. Take the
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