Mitchell Starc may have taken his best ever haul in Test cricket in Adelaide on Friday, but it was the deeds of Australia’s besieged top order and fellow fast bowlers which caught the eye of the pink-ball bowling wizard.
The Aussie pacemen continued his dazzling deeds in day-night Test matches when taking 6-48 to help reduce India to 180, which included the first ball wicket of Yashasvi Jaiswal.
In response, Australia survived a testing night session at Adelaide Oval largely intact to reach 1-86 in an intriguing opening the second Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy.
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Rookie opener Nathan McSweeney is unbeaten on 38, having faced 97 balls already in the third innings of his fledgling career, while Marnus Labuschagne is not out on 20.
Asked to explain his pink ball mastery, Starc said he genuinely did not know the reason why his record with the rarely-used ball is so strong, saying nothing changed from his usual approach.
“It’s always a nice way to start these big Test matches. It is a big series,” he said.
“As I said, nothing changes too much. I’m still running in trying to attack the stumps (and) trying to swing it. Some days it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. I don’t know (the reason why). I can’t tell you.”
After being sledged for a lack of pace by Jaiswal, who was a centurion in Perth, Starc said it was nice to respond by trapping the young Indian star LBW to start the day.
It is the third time in his career that he has started a Test by securing a wicket with the opening ball.
“Yes. He had a good Test match last week. So (it was) nice to get him early, and then we’ll have to work on him in the second innings, I guess,” he said.
“It was a very good first day for us with the ball. I think after that first hour there, I think we were pretty bang on, so it was a nice way to start the Test (and) a nice day one for us overall.”
Starc dismisses Jaiswal with FIRST BALL! | 01:12
While the Australians who spoke prior to the Test stated they had either taken little notice or were surprised by the criticism stemming from a 295-run loss in Perth, Starc made it clear that he was delighted by the deeds of the unbeaten batters given the pressure they faced.
“It’s … a good way to finish the day (and) a good day all up,” he said.
“Arguably the hardest time the bat is that third session with a brand new pink ball, so to finish the day one down, particularly ‘Marn’ and McSweeney there, to fight through that (with) obviously sustained pressure from a quality bowling attack.
“They came out the other end with a chance to go on tomorrow, which was fantastic from them. (There was) obviously a fair bit of outside noise, particularly from this room, so yeah, I’m very pleased for them.”
Cummins, too, was subjected to analysis following a less than productive Perth Test which showed that his pace had dipped slightly, while his average and economy rate rising by a marginal amount, in recent seasons.
While Starc was the star act with the ball, both Cummins and Scott Boland were also exceptional, with the Australian captain surpassing 140km/h regularly.
He snared the wicket of Rishabh Pant with a rearing delivery the Indian star failed to handle and later removed Jasprit Bumrah for a duck.
Starc was quizzed as to whether the skipper seemed angrier than usual, which bemused him, but did say that he was clearly back to his best form.
“He looked in a good rhythm. It looked like he took the handbrake off a little bit and bowled some nice fast stuff, some short stuff,” he said.
“(But) I wouldn’t say he was angry at all. I just thought he was in a good rhythm. And we know how skilful Pat is. Sometimes he’s not going to take (five for), but he’s always going to be up for the challenge.
“I thought he bowled a lot of good stuff (and) probably a lot of unlucky stuff today as well.That’s Patty. And on any other day, it could have been five (wickets) for him.”
McSweeney: “Time to make some runs” | 02:42
Play at Adelaide Oval extended beyond the 10pm cutoff after delays in the final session when some of the lights twice dimmed for a brief period of time.
Citing venue management for the explanation, a Cricket Australia spokesperson said; “We had a brief internal switching issue that was quickly identified and rectified.”
Starc noted it was a strange scenario, though it did not cause any concerns among the players.
“They were on in the change room, (but) we did notice it on the TV,” he said.
“It is quite unusual for it to go out twice in a short space of time. I don’t know what went on there.”
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