India vs Australia | Mitchell Starc is a bit low on confidence, accepts Tim Paine
Tim Paine admits that Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has been lacking confidence in the ongoing Test series against India after the latter failed to impress in the first innings at SCG. Starc has bowled a massive total of 138.5 overs in the series so far, managing just 13 wickets for 449 runs.
The Indian cricket team dominated the Aussies in the first innings of the fourth and final Test match of the ongoing series. Cheteshwar Pujara (193) and Rishabh Pant (159*) ripped apart the Australian bowling attack to lad by a mammoth total of 622/7 before declaring on Day two in Sydney.
Tim Paine, the skipper of the home team, has accepted the side's prime left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc has not been up to the mark in the Test series against Virat Kohli & Co. thus far. Starc's stats have revealed that he has bowled a total 138.5 overs in the series and managed just 13 wickets for 449 runs at 34.53 apiece. This is in stark contrast to his career average of 28.91.
“He’s (Starc) down on confidence a little bit and sometimes people forget he’s just a bloke who’s trying his best. I know he’s playing at the highest level and they expect a lot from him, but it doesn’t always work. Has he been at his best this series?
“When he’s at his best, he’s as good as anyone in the world. He’s nearing 200 Test wickets at a strike rate that’s pretty good. We know when he is confident how valuable he is,” Paine told reporters after the end of day two at the SCG, reported TOI.
The Australian captain also went on to lavish praise on Indian middle-order batsman, Cheteshwar Pujara, who registered his third century of the series en route to his brilliant knock in Sydney. Paine claimed his bowlers did everything they could to displace the Indian but he proved to be too good for them.
"With Pujara, if you’re not swinging the ball, he’s extremely hard to get out. Early in the innings, you’re trying to hit his stumps and his pad, but in the
“We tried to bounce him. We’ve tried lots of different things. He’s faced about a million balls this series. He has been simply too good for us,” Paine added.