Mitchell Starc created a new record as he took Ishan Kishan's wicket in the first over during the India vs Australia match in the ICC World Cup 2023 in Delhi, on Sunday.
After Starc’s early blow, Josh Hazlewood wreaked havoc on the Indian batters and sent two more back to the pavilion and soon the home side were 2-3 in just the first two overs.
However, the brilliance of the Aussies’ bowlers at the start couldn’t make a difference as KL Rahul and Virat Kohli built a match-winning 165-run partnership and won the match.
Despite a loss, Starc managed to reach a feat as he became the fastest bowler in the history of the ICC World Cup to take 50 wickets.
The 33-year-old reached this hallmark in 19 innings, six fewer than Sri Lanka’s speedster Lasith Malinga who took 25 innings to take 50 wickets.
The next two bowlers on this list are also an Australian and a Sri Lanka. As the legendary Glenn McGrath and Muttiah Muralitharan hit the mark in 30 innings.
Starc also holds the record for the most wickets in a single edition of the Cricket World Cup after taking 27 wickets in 10 matches in 2019.
India’s Mohammad Shami is the closest in terms of breaking Starc’s record as he has 31 wickets to his name in just 11 innings.
Even though the experienced Indian pacer did not feature in the clash against the Aussies, he will look to get opportunities in the future.
During the same game, Australian opener David Warner reached a unique feat and became the fastest player to reach the 1000-run mark in the One Day International (ODI) World Cup history in just 19 innings.
He went ahead of India’s great Sachin Tendulkar and South Africa’s AB de Villiers, as both of them completed 1000 runs in 20 innings.
He also became the only third Aussie to reach this hallmark after Adam Gilchrist and Ricky Ponting.
It must be noted that after winning the recent Asia Cup 2023 and beating the Aussies in a three-match ODI series, the Blues continued their great form as they defeated the five-time world champions by six wickets.
On the other hand, things have started to get difficult for Pat Cummins as his side have one win in the last six ODIs and not having more than one natural spinner (Adam Zampa) may cause more trouble for the Aussie in spinning Indian conditions.
India will play Afghanistan next on October 11 in Delhi while Australia will take on the in-form South African side on October 12 in Lucknow.