Watch: Mitchell Starc castles Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi with a perfect yorker

Mitchell Starc dismissed Hashmatullah Shahidi to claim his 59th wicket in the history of ICC Cricket World Cup.

Afghanistan got off to a decent start after they decided to come in to bat first at Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai against Australia. Afghanistan need a win against Australia to be one step closer to their historical semi-final qualification. Afghanistan have added a decent bit of partnerships against 5-time World Cup champions and are challenging them nicely. Australians are also in need of a win to secure their place in the semi-finals.

Afghanistan captain Hashmatullah Shahidi (26) was having a decent stand along with opener Ibrahim Zadran. Shahidi and Zadran were taking Afghan innings closer to a decent total but Australian left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc gave them a shock in his second spell. Starc continued his great run in the World Cup and picked up his 59th World Cup wicket in just his 3rd World Cup event. Starc bowled a ripper to the Afghan captain. 

Starc's brutal yorker against Shahidi

Hashmatullah Shahidi was cautious in his approach in the innings and he was working on playing a supportive role to opener Ibrahim Zadran. Sensing an opportunity due to Shahidi’s gameplay, Starc delivered a brutal toe-crushing yorker to the Afghan skipper who went down to the leg side to make room but his hands couldn’t match the speed of Starc’s shoulder effort. Shahidi was castled after scoring 26 runs in 43 balls. 

Watch the video here:

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Mitchell Starc has been among the wickets in every World Cup game apart from the one against New Zealand played at HPCA Stadium in Dharamshala. Starc’s wicket-taking streak was broken while defending a mammoth 389 against the Kiwis, but soon he made his comeback and picked up 2 against England in a close run-chase. Australian left-arm pacer is playing his 26th World Cup game and has picked up 59 wickets so far. 

Afghanistan captain won the toss and elected to bat at the Wankhede Stadium as they wanted to defend a total after chasing a few against Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Ibrahim Zadran has smashed his 5th ODI hundred and became the first ever batter to smash a century for Afghanistan in the World Cup. Steve Smith is not playing for Australia due to his prevailing vertigo problem before the game. Mitchell Marsh will be taking up the responsibility as number 3 batter.