Australian pacer Mitchell Starc completed 100 wickets at home in ODIs as he sent back Saim Ayub in the third over of Pakistan’s innings in the series opener at the MCG on Monday, November 4. Starc’s delivery seamed a bit away from the left-hander and Ayub was late on the shot, an inside edge and straight onto his stumps. Starc added a couple of more wickets to his tally as he played a huge part in bowling out Pakistan for 203 on a wicket that had bounce, seam and swing and Australian bowlers extracted every ounce of it.
Starc now has 102 wickets in ODIs at home as he became the fifth Australian bowler to achieve the mark. With three wickets, Starc surpassed Steve Waugh to now have 102 wickets at home and also leapfrogged legendary Indian captain Kapil Dev, who has 100 home ODI scalps to his name.
Most wickets for Australia at home in ODIs
169 – Brett Lee (94 innings)
134 – Shane Warne (83 innings)
125 – Craig McDermott (88 innings)
102 – Mitchell Starc (54 innings)
101 – Steve Waugh (101 innings)
South Africa’s Shaun Pollock is at the top of the list with 193 wickets at home in ODIs, followed by Shakib Al Hasan (183) and Australia’s tearaway pacer Brett Lee.
Overall, Starc now has 244 wickets to his name in the format and is now just four away from leaving Shoaib Akhtar behind and 10 more to surpass Kapil Dev.
As for the match, Haris Rauf’s three-wicket haul made the contest interesting after it looked like heading towards an Australia win with Steve Smith and Josh Inglis going great guns. As Rauf broke the 85-run stand, Australia lost four wickets for 26 and still need more than 50 runs to win. Earlier, Starc, Adam Zampa and Pat Cummins shared wickets between them to bowl out Pakistan cheaply.
