Australia have explained their reasoning behind the shock decision to cull Mitchell Starc from their plans for Friday's T20 World Cup clash against Afghanistan.
The veteran pace bowler, who has taken the most wickets for Australia in their T20 World Cup history, was replaced by fringe fast bowler Kane Richardson as part of three changes for Australia's final Super 12 group stage fixture.
Injured pair Aaron Finch and Tim David were also replaced by Cameron Green and Steve Smith due to hamstring setbacks sustained against Ireland.
However, a change few saw coming was Richardson's inclusion, at least in place of Starc.
While Australia would claim victory over Afghanistan, it would come as a narrow four-run win in a match where the host nation required a high-scoring victory to boost their net run rate and therefore chances of securing a semi-final spot.
Richardson, while claiming the vital scalp of Afghan opener Rahmanullah Gurbaz, would concede 48 runs from his four overs however, while the likes of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood led the attack.
Speaking toย cricket.com.au,ย Australia assistant coach Daniel Vettori explained the reasoning behind Starc's omission, placing priority toward the likes of Cummins and Hazlewood.
"That was a tactical decision," Vettori said.
"It was more about the effectiveness of Hazlewood and Cummins at the top, and their ability to take the new ball and be wicket-takers.
"Therefore that pushed Starcy into a different role, and he came up against Kane Richardson and it was thought amongst the hierarchy that Kane was exceptional at the death, and so to utilise him there as opposed to Mitch.
"In his first over, he (Richardson) was incredibly unlucky.
"He could have had two wickets and then suddenly the whole game's turned, and that first breakthrough was a big wicket for us because he played so well and had been so aggressive.
"So we reflect on that, and I think Richo himself would say that he probably missed at the back end of two overs.
"But apart from that, the majority of his spell was what we expected."
Australia, currently placed with a net run rate of -0.173 after their final Group 1 game, will require Sri Lanka to defeat England on Saturday night to progress through to the knockout stage.
England and Sri Lanka will clash at 7:00pm (AEDT) at the SCG on Saturday, with both Australia and the English watching closely to see whose T20 World Cup campaign will end abruptly.
