Australia’s Mitchell Starc celebrates an Indian wicket on day 1 of the second Border-Gavaskar trophy Test in Adelaide on December 6, 2024.
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When Mitchell Starc turned up at the Adelaide Oval for the 2020 pink-ball Test, he dismissed Prithvi Shaw with the match’s second delivery. On Friday (December 6, 2024), he did one better as he scalped Yashasvi Jaiswal with the very first thunderbolt he bowled.
A self-effacing Starc downplayed the effort. “Yeah, I had the stumps (in my sights) and hit the pads. That’s it. Nothing special. I am still running in trying to attack the stumps, trying to swing it. Some days it works, some days it doesn’t,” the Australian spearhead told the media.
Having run into a dominant Jaiswal in the Perth Test’s second innings, Starc said: “Nice to get him early. And now we will have to work on him in the second innings.” The speedster felt that Australia is ahead in the second Test: “Been a very good first day for us with the ball. After that first hour, we were pretty bang on. Nice way to start this Test.”
Starc also expressed satisfaction over the manner in which the Australian top-order shaped up: “It is a good way to finish the day. The hardest time to bat is that third session with the brand new pink ball. To finish one down, particularly from Marne (Labuschagne) and (Nathan) McSweeney to fight through that and obviously to counter sustained pressure from a quality bowling attack, that was fantastic.”
Stressing that the pink ball dynamics are hard to explain, Starc added: “As a bowler you don’t ever feel far away or far out of the game. So if you keep the scoreboard in check, you feel like you always have a good chance.” He also praised the spells of Pat Cummins and Scott Boland while finding the brief malfunctioning of floodlights as a bit unusual.
Published – December 06, 2024 06:31 pm IST
