Mitchell Starc came out with a cheeky response to the ‘Pitch Controversy’ during the Cricket World Cup 

The World Cup ODI semi-final glimpsed a controversy before the game between India and New Zealand. The accusations came as the Indian Cricket Board swapped pitches right before the commencement of the game. The match indeed turned out to be a high-scoring thriller with the Indian side getting rid of their knockout stage curse and heading to the finals. The second semi-final between South Africa and Australia at the Eden Gardens also witnessed a pitch which was previously used in this tournament. After the Kangaroos managed to get a narrow win, Aussie pacer Mitchell Starc had a cheeky take on the crease for the final game of the World Cup ODI 2023. 

The Aussies faced a lot of challenges while chasing a below-par target of 213 runs. They lost 7 wickets to reach the target and advance to the finals. When Starc was asked if he had concerns, he rather came out with a cheeky response. 

"I guess we'll find out when we get to Ahmedabad tomorrow and see if it's a fresh wicket or an old wicket," Starc stated, in a cheeky manner.

In the media conference, Starc was also asked about the nature of the pitch at the Eden Gardens.

"Yeah, it was obviously a pretty bare wicket. I'm not sure if it was slightly tougher to start with the bat due to being under covers for some amount of time, I'm not sure how long. We probably saw it was very, very inconsistent pace whilst it did probably nip a little bit, there was a little bit of swing. I think the inconsistencies made it tough to bat on with that first 10 overs that we bowled. So, I think looking at Josh's pitch map, that's what he does so well in Test match bowling. He was incredible today and the way we run off each other to have that power play that we did and carry some momentum through the middle was how we want to start matches so it was nice to do it in a big game," he said.

When the Aussie star was asked if it was a surprise to play on a surface that really didn’t display the ‘characteristics of a one-day game’, he answered in simple language that he isn’t an expert in reading pitches.

"Yeah, I'm certainly not going to say I'm one to read pitches and know what they do. I mean training here the last few days, the practice wicket certainly turned a lot. From all reports I think the wicket we played on has been used a few times so no surprise that it did turn. Probably a little surprising that it did seam around a little bit whilst I said before it was pretty inconsistent pace wise, I think average first inning scores here have been sort of around 300 mark or a little bit higher. So yeah, a little bit surprising but you know sometimes it's nice to see ball dominate bat sometimes," he affirmed.