Pacer Starc wants to ‘hit’ Ashwin when India tour Down Under
Mitchell Starc pulled out of the ongoing Test series midway due to a fracture in his right foot and returned to Australia. But his mind remains glued to the intriguing contest.
Apart from intense competition, the four-match series, which is tied at 1-1, has seen players engaging in sledging and banter.
One of the many such exchanges involved the Australian left-arm fast bowler and R Ashwin. The Aussie was given a cheeky send-off during the second Test in Bangalore.
The Indian off-spinner tapped his forehead after he dismissed Starc in the second innings.
Ashwin’s reaction came after Starc had made an almost similar gesture to Ashwin’s Tamil Nadu teammate Abhinav Mukund, when the latter was treated with some short-pitched deliveries.
Starc, on Wednesday, said he would want to bowl the same to Ashwin when India tour Australia next.
“I look forward to bowling to Ashwin in Australia. (I might) take his advice and hit him on the badge,” Starc told cricket.com.au.
‘INDIANS SCARED OF US’
Starc also said that the Virat Kohli-led India are sledging more than the Australians because they are scared of losing and seem under pressure.
“(The on-field banter has) probably come a lot more from their side than ours. There was a lot made of it before the series and there was so much hype before the series.
I think we’ve just gone about the cricket that we have done for a long period of time now. As a young group, we’re probably still finding our way. We’re still learning about each other’s games and how we’re going as a team probably since the Hobart Test match (against South Africa last year),” he said.
DEFENCE MECHANISM
“(Australia’s fighting draw in the third Test) shows how we are as a group and the Indians have come hard, it’s almost a defence mechanism for them.
“We won the first Test match, we (were there) for the challenge, they were scared of us beating them in India the way they’ve been playing.
“So it was almost like a defence mechanism for them and they obviously came out in the second Test match and performed really, really well and got back in (the series).”
On his foot fracture, Starc said it was not serious. “The foot is okay. It’s not snapped in half like the one 18 months go. It’s the same foot, so I did the third metatarsal the last time, this is the fourth. Nice fracture. It’s not displaced though.”
Starc is eyeing a return in the Champions Trophy.