Mitchell Starc has produced a mix bag at this year's ODI World Cup - but there might be more than meets the eye for the veteran left-arm quick.
After dominating in previous tournaments - including his heroics in Australia's 2015 triumph - Starc has failed to fire in India, taking just 10 wickets at a disappointing average of 43.90 from nine matches.
The 33-year-old sits behind teammates Josh Hazlewood and Adam Zampa - the latter of which is leading the entire tournament's tally with 22 scalps heading into the semi-finals - while skipper Pat Cummins sits level with Starc.
The side started their campaign slowly with two-straight losses, but have managed to bounce back and win seven clashes on the trot heading into this week's semi-final against South Africa.
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Australia's Mitchell Starc addresses form slump at ODI World Cup
Speaking to the media on Monday, Starc addressed his recent woes overseas, admitting the struggles have come from the conditions while also taking ownership for his efforts.
"If you look at purely numbers, there's been a lot of guys across a lot of teams not have the numbers they would have liked... the wickets have certainly been two very different wickets through the day and through the night," he said.
"It's certainly been more beneficial to swing the ball and nip the ball under lights. I think there’s a lot of contributing factors, speed’s not the be all and end all over here in India as well.
"Certainly how you go about it tactically and whether it’s variations or what time you bowl through a game or whether you win or lose a toss.
"I think a lot of things contribute to that and certainly haven’t been probably at the level that I would have liked as well.
“I certainly take some [responsibility] myself there that [I haven't performed] to the same level as the last two World Cups anyway, but now I have the chance at the pointy-end to, I guess, impact again.”
The other contributing factor relates to the use of two balls for ODI fixtures, which negates any potential reverse swing - something Starc has exploited with great success during his stellar career.
Starc has failed to take a wicket during the Powerplay of a day-time portion of play, but has managed to take wickets under lights for the Aussies.
“I still think it should be one ball, not two,” he said.
“The ball stays harder for longer. As we’ve seen here, the grounds are quite small, wickets are flat.
“If anything in world cricket, wickets have gotten flatter and I think if you look at some of that old footage when they bowled with one ball, reverse swing comes into it a lot more that actually brings the bowlers back into the game.
"I don’t think it’s any secret that one day cricket and probably T20 cricket as well is a batter’s game and bowlers just have to hang on."
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After being rested for the Aussies' final group stage clash against Bangladesh, Starc is expected to return to the bowling attack alongside his long-time partners in crime, Hazlewood and Cummins.
With the side hopeful of advancing past the Proteas, Starc revealed the game off allowed him the time to rest some niggling issues stemming from the recent Ashes series earlier this year.
“I didn’t have much of a say in the decision... I’ve carried a few things from the Ashes and it was a chance to give them an extra chance before the semi-finals," he said.
"If I only played when I was 100 per cent, I would have probably played 10 games.
"All bowlers around the world deal with stuff, we just don’t have to talk about it like batters do."
Australia will face South Africa on Thursday, before a potential showdown with either New Zealand or India in the final awaits them on Sunday should they earn a spot.