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Finch backs Starc to regain form soon

Top pacer Mitchell Starc’s patchy form is among the few worries for a rampaging Australia in the ongoing series against India but skipper Aaron Finch on Tuesday threw his weight behind the seasoned campaigner, saying there is no need to panic just yet.

Finch backs Starc to regain form soon
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The left-arm seamer, who has an outstanding record  with  the  new  ball  in  white-ball  crick-et,  has  been  far  from  his  best  in  the  ongoing  series  against  India.  In  the  two  ODIs,  Starc  has  managed  to  claim  just  one  wicket  while  giving  away  147  runs  in  18  overs.  Australia  won both the games.

“He  hasn’t  been  at  his  very  best,  and  you  have  to  understand  his  standards  are  a  lot  higher  than  what  you  expect  from  most  other  people  because  of  how  dominant he’s been over the last eight or  nine  years,  especially  in  the  white-ball formats,” Finch said at the pre-match press conference ahead of the third ODI.

“He’d  love  to  be  swinging the ball and getting it right early on, but the reality is when you’re defending  big  totals  and  playing    against    good    players, they’re coming hard  at  you,”  he  added.

With    star    pacer    Pat    Cummins  rested  for  the  final  ODI,  Finch  said  there  will be discussions on how to use Starc.

“So,  there’ll  be  conversations  today  about  what  we  can    do    slightly    different. Whether  it’s  a  tactical  thing  or  when  we’re  using him through the innings. We’ll chat about that today. But, definitely  no  panic  stations  here  from  my  point  of  view,” Finch said.

Since  the  World  Cup  last  year,  Starc  has  endured a dip in form. The Australian quick has  picked  just  12  wickets  while  bleeding  runs at an economy of 6.28 in 11 matches.“From  my  point  of  view,  and  chatting  to other guys about his technique and little things that his fellow bowlers and the fast-bowling  cartel  really  monitor,  they  seemed  to  think  that  he’s  going  really  well,” Finch said.“So  it’s  just  a  matter  of  time. There’s  no-where to hide in one-day cricket when you’re playing on some really flat wickets with quality opposition,” he added.

With  star  batsman  David  Warner  ruled  out of the final ODI and the series already in the bag, Finch hinted that the home side could experiment at the top.“We haven’t picked a team yet, but we’ve got  a  few  options.  Whether  we  go  Wadey  (Matthew  Wade)  in  the  side  or  Marnus  comes  up  and  opens the batting, Alex Carey has done a lot of it in the past.“But the middle-order has been  functioning  really  well  over the last little while.That’s the beauty of being two-nil up in the series, you can look to experiment if  you  want  to  do  that  or  you  can  look  to  play  the  safe option,” Finch said.

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