Working on little things with David Saker helped me get back my old mojo, reveals Mitchell Starc

Mitchell Starc was on a rage in the 2015 World Cup and was central to Australia’s title-winning campaign. However, continuous influx of injuries made him suffer to no end and in the process, he has become a lesser threat in Test cricket too. However, as the series got underway yesterday, he was at his absolute best and bowled in a more upright manner over a braced front leg. For the change, he credited coach David Saker and the little things that he had done with the coach while recovering from the foot injury that he suffered in South Africa earlier this year.

"We had a bit of a chat a few months ago now prior to the UAE tour about how my action had probably changed, bowling through niggles and periods where I'd been sore and that sort of stuff. There were times when I'd collapse on my knee to try to get through when I was sore and that sort of thing,” Starc said.

"I've been sort of tweaking a few things and trying a few different things with David Saker, looking at perhaps how I bowled in 2015 throughout that World Cup and trying to perhaps get over my front leg a bit more. Little things have worked and hopefully the swing that I've got the last couple of weeks hangs around for the summer," he said. "There's little things I've tried over the last little while that have worked for little periods. This one seems to be working for a bit longer, I had it going nicely in the nets the other day and it's worked again today.

"Just little changes and little cues I used to have that I probably went away from or unknowingly went away from. But it's nice to see the ball moving around and I think we've all been preparing brilliantly for this Test series with a little period off after the Shield game. Between the batters and bowlers our preparation's been fantastic, so it's one good day out of a long series, so hopefully personally I can keep swinging the ball around and being that bit more consistent than I have been in the past."

With the ball darting around, Australian kept a tight line to frustrate the Indians and they were supported by Indian batsman's headless shot selection. While the latter seemed like the major contributor to India succumbing to 250 in the first innings, Starc stressed that they bowled really well in the first four hours of play.

"I think we've planned and prepared really well for this week and had a lot of vision to look at, and how India have played in the past. They did go quite hard but we bowled exceptionally well for the first four hours, especially when the ball got soft and stopped moving around, the scoreboard never got away from us.

"I thought we bowled really well for four hours, probably pretty well for another hour and probably got it a bit wrong at the end there. Pujara batted a lot of time, he's someone who likes to absorb pressure and bat a long time, and credit to him he scored a fantastic hundred today. I think if you asked us at the start of the day if we'd take losing the toss and being 9 for 250 at stumps I think we'd bite your arm off."