There are times when a sportsman goes through a roller-coaster ride on the personal front but gives priority to his national duty. Australia pacer Mitchell Starc’s story is something similar. The left-arm bowler had faced criticism for his bowling in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but very few knew about the difficult time that he was going through back then.
Starc’s father Paul, was suffering from cancer and the Aussie quick bowler wanted to spend time with him. But his ailing father kept his son’s national duty on priority and pushed him to play for Australia and wear that baggy green “with pride” as revealed by Mitchell’s wife Alyssa Healy. Starc’s father passed away in February.
“Mitch didn’t want to be there playing cricket. He wanted to be sitting next to his Dad, and spending the last three months that he could possibly have with his Dad. Paul didn’t want that, he wanted Mitch to go out there, play for Australia and wear his baggy green with pride,” stated Healy while speaking to 7Cricket.
Healy who plays for the women’s national side opened up about how the left-arm pacer copped up with the criticism that was going around for his bowling.
“To have to deal with what was going on behind the scenes and play Test cricket on the biggest arena is not easy. Mitch copped a lot of flak for bowling the way he did last summer but those people who were laying into him had no concept of what was going on behind the scene,” added Healy.
Australia though suffered a 1-2 defeat again India at home. India made a fine comeback in the series after losing the first Test which was a Day-night fixture to clinch the series.