New Delhi: Mitchell Starc is the biggest Australian bowling threat for India in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar series and needs to be tired out of the attack, Cheteshwar Pujara has said.
Left handed Starc is Australia’s leading wicket taker in the five-match Test series with 14 scalps in the first three games. As the series is locked at 1-1 after the first three matches, Pujara said India must find a wa to neutralise Strac.
“He has been their best bowler thus far in this series. He has improved his bowling a lot in the last one to one-and-a-half years. He has a lot of ability. If I talk about my personal experience, when he used to come to bowl in the last two series, we felt we could get runs,” he told on Star Sports.
“However, now it seems like when he will come to bowl, he will pick up wickets. His accuracy has improved a lot. He is bowling very few loose deliveries. He is bowling at the stumps. Every ball is hitting the good length spot. He is getting swing. He has become a different bowler.”
‘Starc more dangerous than Cummins and Hazlewood’
The fourth match begins at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Boxing Day with Strac’s pace bowling partner Josh Hazlewood ruled out of the match with a strain.
Scott Boland, who was picked in the team for the day-night Test at Adelaide, would replace Hazlewood who has blamed a ‘random’ injury for his absence.
But Pujara said despite Hazlewood’s injured absence and Boland’s inclusion, India’s shouldn’t shift their focus from Starc, whose new first spell with the new ball has troubled Indian batters.
“He is looking more dangerous than (Pat) Cummins and (Josh) Hazlewood. So we will have to manage his bowling, especially with the new ball. He has taken most of his wickets in his first five overs, his first spell. So we need to bat well in the first five overs. Make him bowl the second and third spells because he gets tired.
“The way we have batted thus far, our top order has never played him in his third or fourth spell. The lower-middle order or the tail-enders have played him. We saw when Mitchell Starc was bowling when Bumrah and Akash Deep were batting, he wasn’t that effective. So play the new ball properly,” Pujara, who helped India win back-to-back series in Australia in 2028 and 2021, said.
Left-handed pacer Mitchell Starc is Australia’s leading wicket taker in the five-match Test series against India with 14 scalps in the first three games. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
