Mitchell Starc: Bengaluru pitch won't be too bouncy or quick because that's India's weakness

"I can't see it being too bouncy or quick because it's a weakness of the Indian batters," Starc was quoted as saying by the Times of India. 

"We'll probably see it not turning as much as this (Pune) wicket has or breaking up as quickly. I think we'll probably see a wicket similar to maybe the England series they had over here, where it's probably flatter, and there is some really big first innings totals, and the game happens a bit quicker towards the end. It's a smaller ground but a bit better of a wicket than what we've seen here in Pune.

“It's (lively pitches) probably something not many batsmen like, especially the guys over in the subcontinent, where they're not used to those faster or bouncier wickets."

India has traditionally struggled on bouncy pitches overseas. Interestingly, though, visiting fast medium bowlers have also done well in India. Of the 23 overseas bowlers to have taken 20 or more wickets in India since the 80s, nine of the top 10 leading bowling averages, nine of the top 10 strike rates and eight of the top 10 economy rates belong to pacers.

"A lot of teams have shown that it's not an area that the India batsmen like most. Hopefully, there's a little bit of bounce in the Bangalore wicket or the wickets to come in this series and we can try and exploit that as well," he said.

“Obviously, we’ll wait until we get there to see what the conditions are like, but I’m sure it will be a pretty dry wicket again. So that’ll probably help reverse swing there and it’s something we’ll be working hard at all the time in the nets. 

“After the first over I bowled (in in Pune) there was a little bit of natural swing, and then Steve (O’Keefe) obviously bowled at the other end and it was quite an abrasive wicket. It didn’t swing after that. I think we can get better at reverse-swing, in terms of how we get that ball – looking after that shiny side because if there’s going to be more wickets like Pune, they’re going to be so abrasive and really chop the ball up.

“So we probably didn’t get it going as much as we would have liked, but there are three Tests to go and we’re 1-0 up.”

Starc dismissed Kohli for a duck and Cheteshwar Pujara for six in the first innings.

“They’re both key wickets for their order. They’ve both scored a lot of runs this summer for them and Virat as we know has scored three double-centuries in the last three series.  That one, to get him out for a duck, probably helped us along our way at the start of the innings," he said.

“As we saw in the back end (of each innings) it happened really quickly for Steve (O’Keefe) with the turning ball.  We know (Kohli) is going to be another key wicket for the rest of the series.  There’s six more times we’ve got to get him out to really cement this series.  We know he’ll come back bigger and stronger, but he’s one I’ll take over Pujara at the moment."