Cheteshwar Pujara praises Mitchell Starc as Australia's best bowler in Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Australia vs India: Veteran batsman Cheteshwar Pujara praised fast bowler Mitchell Starc and said that the 34-year-old Starc has been the “best bowler” for Australia in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) series, reports Star Sports.

The series is currently level at 1-1 after India secured a draw in the third Test in Brisbane. The Boxing Day Test will begin on December 26 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground. Starc made his Test debut in 2011 against New Zealand. After that, 34-year-old Starc has taken part in 92 Test matches and 176 innings, in which he has taken 372 wickets at an economy rate of 3.42. The Australian fast bowler has performed brilliantly against India, taking 62 wickets in 21 Test matches played against them.

In the current BGT series, Starc has taken 14 wickets at an average of 22.86. He is currently the second highest wicket taker in the series after Bumrah. In a special conversation with Star Sports, Pujara said that Starc has improved a lot in the last 1.5 years.

“He has been the best bowler for them in this series. And the way Mitchell Starc has played in the last 1-1.5 years, he has improved a lot. And they have a lot of potential. If I talk about my personal experience, when he played in the last series in 2018 or 2021, I felt that if he played against me, I would score runs. And now, when he is playing in this series, it looks like he will take wickets,” Pujara said in a Star Sports release.

He said that the Australian fast bowler has increased his line length and accuracy while bowling. He said, “So what is the difference? The difference is that their line length, their accuracy has increased greatly. He is throwing very few loose balls. He is playing on the stumps. Every ball is coming to a good length spot. He's getting the swing. So the change he has brought in his game has made him a different player. And he looks more dangerous than Cummins and Hazlewood.”

The experienced cricketer further said that Starc gets tired in the latter part of the innings, which helps the lower batting order to score runs.

“So we have to pay attention to their game, especially with the new matches. In the first 5 overs, in his first spell, he has taken the most wickets. So if there is good batting in the first 5 overs, bring them in for the second or third spell. Because they get tired. So till now top order batting, our top order has never played in the third or fourth spell. Those who have played are lower middle order and tail batsmen. And we saw that when Bumrah and Akash were batting, when Mitchell Starc was bowling, they were not as effective. So they have to play their new game well,” he concluded.

Earlier last week, Australia made a few changes to their team in the absence of Josh Hazlewood and concerns at the top of the order. The hosts have included Beau Webster, Jhye Richardson and Sam Konstas in the squad ahead of the fourth Test match of the series.

Hazlewood was ruled out of the second Adelaide Test after suffering a minor injury in the Perth Test, but returned for the third match in Brisbane, but suffered a calf strain during the warm-up on the fourth day. He bowled one over and left the field for scans, which confirmed the severity of his injury, after which he was ruled out of the series.

Hazlewood took five wickets in the first Test in Perth, including four in the first innings. Scott Boland could replace Hazlewood in Australia's playing eleven for the fourth Test starting on December 26 at the MCG.

India Team: Rohit Sharma (Captain), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (WK), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (WK), Ravichandran Ashwin. , Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.

Australia team: Pat Cummins (captain), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstanz, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (vc). , Michelle Starke, Beau Webster