Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has slammed the decision of the selectors to omit fast bowler Mitchell Starc from Friday's T20 World Cup clash against Afghanistan in Adelaide.
The hosting nation were in need of a dominant win to strengthen their net run rate at the conclusion of their final Group 1 fixture, with New Zealand booking their place in the knockout stage while England still require a win over Sri Lanka to proceed.
A big enough win for Australia would've mounted further pressure on England ahead of their Saturday night matchup at the SCG, however the Aussies failed to tame the Afghans, instead allowing them into the contest and claiming a narrow four-run win.
Australia's bowling attack conceded a surge of runs late into the second innings, with No.8 batsman Rashid Khan scoring 48 runs from 23 deliveries to see his side fall just short of the mark and almost end Australia's tournament.
Starc's replacement, Kane Richardson, was the most expensive bowler for Australia, costing his side 48 runs from his four overs for a return of one wicket.
Marcus Stoinis was also dispatched for 26 runs from his two overs, with star paceman Pat Cummins joining the all-rounder and incoming tall Cameron Green in recording no wickets.
Green and Richardson were among the three inclusions for Andrew McDonald's side, with the pair, along with fellow addition Steve Smith, failing to capitalise on their returns.
Smith and Green were added to Australia's XI given Aaron Finch and Tim David were left hamstrung, while Starc was seemingly dropped for the match.
The decision to leave their all-time T20 World Cup wicket-taker out of the game gained widespread criticism, with Clarke among those to slam the selection call.
"He's got to be injured,” Clarke said during Fox Sports' broadcast.
“There's absolutely no way you can leave him out of tonight's game.
“If anyone's going to rip through Afghanistan's batting it's Mitchell Starc. Left-arm, if it swings with the new ball and then we've seen his yorkers at the death. I don't get it.
"...He'd have been my first bowler picked against this Afghanistan line-up.
“To me we've got a lot of the same-same here, (Josh) Hazlewood, (Marcus) Stoinis, (Cameron) Green - it's all right-hand back of a length, hit the wicket hard. We've got to win this game and got to win by a lot. I just think that left-arm something different - it would have been exactly what we needed tonight.”
Should Australia's fortunes take a turn and see England fall to Sri Lanka, it's likely Starc will return to the bowling attack for the remainder of the tournament, while Finch and David will also be in the mix.
