Australia’s senior pacer Mitchell Starc on Friday played down the chatter around India batter KL Rahul’s contentious caught behind dismissal on the first day of the opening Test here, saying it was a “regulation wicket”. Rahul’s dismissal kicked up a controversy with former players from both the countries questioning the third umpire’s decision to overturn the on-field official’s not out call. After on-field umpire Richard Kettleborough ruled in Rahul’s favour following Australia’s appeal, the home team used DRS to challenge the decision.
Third umpire Richard Illingworth, however, overturned the call despite not having the benefit of a split-screen view which would have given him a clearer picture of whether the Starc delivery actually grazed the bat or the snicko responded to a hit on the pads.
“It got overturned obviously, but I thought it was regulation, the sound it made, the timing of it, I thought it was just a regulation wicket,” Starc said at a press conference.
Starc (2/14), who bagged the opening wicket of the series when he removed Yashasvi Jaiswal, will resume on six not out alongside wicketkeeper Alex Carey, who is unbeaten on 19, on Saturday, with Australia at 67/7 after India made 150 in their first innings.
A staggering 17 wickets fell on the opening day, a record on Australian soil, but the leading pacer believed batting is going to get easier in the second innings and they just need to survive the new Kookaburra ball.
“I think there was a fair bit of good bowling today. Obviously there was enough in the wicket and it probably felt like it was a hardball wicket,” Starc said.
“When the ball started to get a little bit softer towards the the back end of that Indian innings, it probably didn’t do as much. (There was) still enough there, but it didn’t do as much as the brand new hardball.
“So I guess that’s something for teams to take in the second innings.
“If you can get through the testing period, it does get slightly easier. That being said, the outfield is quite slow, so that probably made runs a bit hard to come by. That’s probably the slowest outfield we’ve seen over in the west for a long time.” While Starc gave the first breakthrough, his pace-bowling colleague Josh Hazlewood proved to be more successful on the day, returning with excellent figures of 4/29 in 13 overs before the peerless Jasprit Bumrah (4/17 in 10 overs) yet again displayed his extraordinary skills.
Starc is also not of the view that batting conditions were becoming harder across Australia.
“How many ways can you skin a cat? Bowlers are allowed to bowl good balls,” he said.
“When there’s a lot of runs, it’s like, ‘Oh, the bowlers bowled badly. When there’s wickets, the wickets are tough’. (But) you are allowed to bowl good balls and maybe credit should go to both teams and bowlers.
“Sure, there’s plenty in the wicket when you put it in the right area and it was hard work for batting, but as I said, you’re allowed to bowl good balls and there were plenty of those today.” At stumps, Australia trailed by 83 runs thanks to the incredible comeback by the Bumrah-led Indian team, something that seemed improbable after they were all out for an under-par score and weeks after their unprecedented 0-3 drubbing to New Zealand at home.
Starc said he was not surprised by India’s comeback.
“That was a completely different series, different conditions, different teams, so, yeah, that was entertaining to watch, that series .. but we know how good a team India are and they have shown that today.
“I thought we bowled quite well and perhaps an under par score and they have come out and matched us with the ball, so, no, I wouldn’t say I was surprised as we know the skill they have got in that team with bat and ball, and they showed that with the ball today,” Starc pointed out.
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