Australia’s left-arm fast-bowling spearhead Mitchell Starc said the team is hopeful of Josh Hazlewood featuring again in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy series after the pacer was ruled out of the upcoming day-night Adelaide Test against India due to a side strain. “He’s hopeful. He, Nathan and I were in the gym during the week in Sydney. He’s obviously here with us in Adelaide. So he’s just getting some work done. Hopefully, he’ll have a role at some point,” Starc said, adding, “It’s certainly not a big (tear). I think he caught it early enough and had the awareness of the discomfort to get it without having a big rip in it. We are very hopeful that – whether he takes part in Brisbane or not – (that he will play) still in this series,” said Starc on cricket.com.au’s Unplayable Podcast episode.

In Hazlewood’s absence, seamer Scott Boland shapes as the most likely candidate to replace him in Australia’s playing eleven for the game in Adelaide. If selected, Adelaide will be the venue for Boland to play a Test match after 18 months.

Starc has backed Boland, who has picked 35 wickets at an average of 20.34 from his 10 Tests, to come good in Adelaide. “I don’t know who they’ll play but Scotty has been around for a while and has played a couple of pink-ball games. He loves playing here as well when it’s nipping and just doing enough,” he said.

“We saw his skills on show in the PM’s XI when it was just doing enough. I played that Shield game (against) him a few weeks ago (at the MCG) where he was coming back from a couple of niggles and just coming into his rhythm.”

“But you could see he was on the verge of that rhythm that you always know is there with Scotty. If he does get the chance this week, he’ll be the Scotty we know and have seen before.”

The depth of both India and Australia will be tested when they have just three days to make a turnaround from finishing the Adelaide Test to playing the third match of the series at The Gabba in Brisbane.

“Next (this) week is going to be a challenge, going from a day-night Test in Adelaide back to back (with) the early start in Brisbane. There’s a challenge in itself – first-world problems – but your preparation changes a little bit,” concluded Starc.

Australia and its top stars stand on the brink of history in the second ODI against Pakistan at the Adelaide Oval on Friday. Ahead of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Starc has rediscovered his rhythm with the ball, a key element missing from his repertoire for much of 2024. The left-arm seamer earned praise with his fiery spell in the series opener at the MCG, claiming impressive figures of 3/33 in his 10-over spell. Following his electric pace display, the veteran bowler is just six wickets away from becoming the fourth Australian to reach 250 ODI wickets. Starc currently boasts the best strike rate (26.59) by an Australian in ODI cricket (minimum 50 wickets).

Starc’s teammate, Glenn Maxwell, is also on the cusp of a milestone. After falling to Haris Rauf’s blistering pace and registering a golden duck, Maxwell needs just 66 runs to reach the 4000-run landmark in ODIs.

Pakistan fell short in the series opener, succumbing to a narrow 2-wicket defeat. Under the new captaincy of Mohammad Rizwan, Pakistan will aim to end their winless streak on Australian soil.

It’s been a long time since Pakistan last tasted success in Australia. The Men in Green have won just one of their eight ODIs at the Adelaide Oval, a narrow 12-run victory in December 1996.

The Baggy Greens have a chance to deepen Pakistan’s struggles in the 50-over format. The opener marked Australia’s 71st victory over Pakistan, matching the West Indies’ record tally against Pakistan, though Australia achieved it in 28 fewer games. Another win would give Australia unparalleled dominance over Pakistan in ODI cricket.

The India vs Australia T20 World Cup 2024 match will be remembered for a long time for Rohit Sharma‘s sensational batting at St Lucia. It was a Super Eight match between the sides in which Rohit smashed the Australian bowlers for fun. The Indian cricket team skipper struck eight sixes and seven fours on way to score a 41-ball 92. Though Rohit Sharma went after all the bowlers, he was particularly brutal towards one – Starc. When the left-arm pacer was inducted into the playing XI of Australia for the game, the general thought was that it was to counter the India captain’s weakness against the left-arm pacer. But what happened was exactly opposite of Australia’s expectations.

In the third over of the Indian innings that was bowled by Starc, Rohit slammed the pacer for four sixes and a four. The over fetched a total of 29 runs as Starc also bowled a wide.

The first two sixes in the over came via delightful aerial drive over extra cover before he smashed one in the cow corner region. The fourth maximum of the over came via a mishit that went all the way behind the stumps.

Starc has finally broken silence on the treatment received by Rohit.

“I’ve played a lot against him. He had a good tournament, especially in our game. I think he targeted that wind in St. Lucia as well. If you look at the runs from each end, one end went for a lot more than the other. I bowled from that end. I bowled five bad balls and he hit them all for six,” the Aussie pacer told LiSTNR Sport podcast.

Australia put India in to bat first in the game and Rohit made the most of the conditions with a sublime knock comprising seven fours and eight sixes including a recording extending 200th in the format.

India went on to win the game by 24 runs.