‘Aur bhai ne IPL chora tha international khelene ke liye’ – Fans react as Australia drops Mitchell Starc from 1st Test of Ashes 2023

Australia squared off against England in the first Test of the Ashes 2023 series at Edgbaston in Birmingham. England skipper Ben Stokes won the toss and opted to bat first on a flat track. After being called to bat first, Australia skipper Pat Cummins revealed that star pacer Mitchell Starc failed to make it into the playing XI.

“We’d have batted as well. One change, Mitch Starc is out, and Hazlewood comes in. Tough call, Starc was good last game but good to have someone like Hazlewood come in. Tough to manage the workload, but that is a good problem to have. Good preparation to win the WTC final, we went into that fresh and we are now eager to go. England will come at us, but that’s okay,” said Australia captain Pat Cummins during the toss.

Meanwhile, England also left out pacer Mark Wood and replaced him with veteran pacer Stuart Broad. After winning the toss, England skipper Ben Stokes said, “We’ll bat first. Looks like a great cricket wicket. Good toss to win. Very proud to be here with all the hype around, very special moment for me and the team. It has been tough at times with the energy, but that has been something we are good at in the past. Happy to have Mo back, unfortunate injury to Leachy. I’ve seen Mo produce some great performances in the past, we know what he can bring to the team.”

Josh Hazlewood makes a comeback

As Australia leaves Starc out of the playing XI, senior pacer Josh Hazelwood makes it into the team. After suffering constant injuries in the back and toe, Hazelwood finally makes a comeback in the Ashes. He also pulled out of the World Test Championship finals against India citing injury. In that WTC final against India, Starc ended up taking four wickets, including the prized scalp of Virat Kohli in the first innings. He also batted for 41 runs in the second innings, contributing to a key 93-run partnership with Alex Carey.

So far in his Test career, Mitchell Starc has 310 wickets from 78 Tests at an average of 27.65, including 13 five-wicket hauls and two 10-wicket match hauls. However, the Australian team management has made the difficult decision to exclude the left-arm pacer and instead select Hazlewood, who last played a Test match in January 2023 against South Africa at home.

Here is how fans react to Australia’s playing xi:

Tough choice. Hope Boland and Hazlewood do their bit.

— Mostly Cricket (@BoliMocr) June 16, 2023

Uh-oh, looks like Mitchell Starc didn't make the cut for the first Ashes Test. Better luck next time, mate! Josh Hazelwood is up to bat now.

— LiuLiu Explains EveryThing (@ExplainLiuLiu) June 16, 2023

Langra bumrah should learn something from this goat 🐐

— Arki (@gill_superfan) June 16, 2023

https://twitter.com/vkkings007/status/1669639752172072961?s=20

His 1st ball in the last Ashes was an iconic moment.

— Aditya Saha (@Adityakrsaha) June 16, 2023

And people compare him with Bumrah🤣🤣

— Chalak Billu (@chalakbilllllu) June 16, 2023

https://twitter.com/MaulikMoushumi/status/1669647887972851714?s=20

https://twitter.com/Relax_Boisss/status/1669639916282851329?s=20

After not playing IPL

Which workload they are managing of Starc 🤔

He is fresh just played WTC

— DRP 🇮🇳 (@its_DRP) June 16, 2023