The left-arm pacer of Australia, Mitchell Starc, has been in decent touch in the first four Tests of the ongoing Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25, as he wreaked havoc in the Indian side with his innings figure of 6/48 during the second pink-ball day-night encounter at the Adelaide Oval, where hardly any Indian batter had any answer against him.
But the third Test especially, towards the end, when Mitchell Starc was bowling a gentle pace, holding his back quite a few times, it wasn’t sending positive news to the home side. Australia had already lost one of their three premier pacers of the side in the form of lanky Josh Hazlewood, who missed the second fixture and wasn’t in good touch during the third encounter at the Gabba in Brisbane.
The 34-year-old is the fourth leading wicket-taker of the side with the help of 14 wickets in seven innings at an average of 29 and a strike rate of 49.42 with the help of one five-wicket haul. The left-arm pacer has already bowled 115.2 overs, as he now rules out any concerns of injury and prepares himself to bowl out the Blue Brigade India for the second time in the Boxing Day Test.
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Mitchell Starc has picked up 372 wickets in the 92 red-ball Tests at an average of 27.55 and a strike rate of 48.2 with the help of 20 four-wicket hauls and 15 five-wicket hauls with the best bowling figure of 6/48 in an innings.
Mitchell Starc is confident of being fit for the fifth Sydney Test
The veteran was seen to spend some time with the physio on the third day’s play but didn’t leave the field as he kept on going after the match-changing stand of the eighth wicket between Washington Sundar and Nitish Kumar Reddy. The pacer bowled 25 overs and went wicketless as the tourists ended with 369 in reply to Australia’s 474 in the first innings.
The 34-year-old didn’t display any concern about his fitness at the start of the fourth day, as he felt everything was in place and the pace didn’t drop at all and addressed himself fully prepared to go after the opponents in the second innings.
Scott Boland took the place of injured Josh Hazlewood in the third Test, but he is 30-plus in age. He went with 27 overs in his job, giving away 57 runs with seven maidens, picking up three wickets at an economy rate of 2.1. The captain of the side, Pat Cummins, also bowled 29 overs to give away 89 runs for three wickets.
Mitchell Starc shed light on being one of the key members of the bowling department as they look to keep India away from the chase to go 2-1 up in the series.
“I’m not sure anyone understands it unless they’ve had to do it. It is what it is, it’s Test cricket, it’s a five-Test series, some close matches back-to-back, a few long days. We were a bowler down (in) the last Test, and it’s probably more the MCG of old. It’s going to be hard work these last two days, but that’s Test cricket, and that’s what we’re here for.” The left-arm pacer of the Australian side expressed on SEN cricket.
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Mitchell Starc also explained that the pitch hasn’t been bowling-friendly as recent red-ball clashes. And it hasn’t started to break down yet.
“We thought it might do more with the new ball, which it probably hasn’t. They batted quite well in that partnership. We bowled some good stuff with no reward, so good old-fashioned Test cricket – a bit like the MCG of old.” Mitchell Starc concluded.