The absence of the Mitchell’s – Starc and Johnson from the upcoming India tour of Australia ODI series should relieve the Indian batsmen to a colossal extent as both the left arm pacers have demolished batting lineups in the past. However, the ever elegant and subtle Ajinkya Rahane feels that despite the absence of the two quicks, Australia has a quality bowling attack. Josh Hazlewood is likely to lead Australia’s bowling attack in the upcoming ODI series against MS Dhoni’s team.
“It’s always a challenge to play against India vs Australia. Yes, they will miss Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc, but they have got other bowlers like James Pattinson. We are going to focus first on ODIs and then think about the T20 series. By then, we would have got used to the conditions. I am confident we will do well on tour,” Rahane said.
During their last international meeting, in the second semi final of the ICC World Cup 2015, it was the duo of the Starc and Johnson, who had decimated India’s batting and punctured the run chase. Johnson in that game was simply terrific as he grabbed the all important wickets of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma. “Johsnson and Starc have been top performers for Australia.
Australia will definitely miss them. But they have Pattinson and other good bowlers. As a batting unit, we have to play on the merit of the ball,” Rahane added.
Rahane however, also said that his sensational outing against South Africa in Delhi had made him more confident and he was upbeat about taking on Australia. “Two Test hundreds againt South Africa in last Test were very special as they were made at the place where I made my debut and we won the series too.
For this tour, I have made normal preparations to face bouncy conditions in Australia. We will play in challenging conditions but we want to return with a win,” said Rahane.