India vs Australia | Mitchell Starc lavishes praise on Virat Kohliâs captaincy ability
Mitchell Starc, who played under Virat Kohli while representing Royal Challengers Bangalore, has called the Indian skipper a fantastic captain. Starc has also joined the likes of Sachin Tendulkar and Mitchell Johnson in questioning ICCâs decision to award the Perth pitch an average rating.
The relation between Virat Kohli and Mitchell Starc has never been bad, but the same canât be said about the Indian skipperâs relationship with other Aussie players. While in the 2014 series, Kohli said he didnât have any reason to respect Mitchell Johnson after the last yearâs Border-Gavaskar Trophy was remembered for all the wrong reasons and Kohli announced that his opinion to be friends with the Australians had been changed.Â
However, few players like Mitchell Starc and David Warner have been good friends with Kohli, and now, the former came out to state that he liked the way Kohli has been leading the Indian team. Having previously played under the Indian skipper in the IPL, Starc stated that Kohli was a "fantastic captainâ, but a lot would depend on the way India are playing the series.Â
âIâve played a couple of IPLs with Virat and heâs been fantastic to play under, as a captain. Obviously, heâs a fantastic player. The way India play this series and go about their cricket, itâs up to them,â Starc told AFP.Â
The surface for the second Test started out with a tinge of green on it and had cracks appearing as the match went on. Although a few deliveries awkwardly hit the batsmen, some of the former greats of the game like Sachin Tendulkar, Mitchell Johnson, and Michael Vaughan have praised the surface for offering up a match that tested both bowlers and batsmen.
However, ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle marked the pitch as âaverageâ, the lowest passing mark for a surface. While that decision was criticised by many, Mitchell Starc became the latest to question the decision of the ICC.
âYou had a fantastic Test match over five days, a fantastic battle between ball and bat which is what you want. I think that was a bit harsh, Iâd say, and the fact it was such an exciting Test match thatâs what you want to promote. You want to see wickets like that in the future,â he was quoted as saying by ESPNcricinfo.
âFor example, playing in MCG last year was pretty docile and the pitch didnât do anything. You want a contest between bat and ball so thatâs going to keep Test cricket alive and get people into the game like in Perth. It was a fantastic battle there and I thought it was a great pitch,â Starc added to agencies.
âCracks did play a part but thatâs what happens when a wicket is wearing on days four and five. Cricket is turning out to be a battersâ game if you keep making flat wickets always. You want an exciting contest between bat and ball. When the ball is flying around and batsmen have to play, thatâs the game. Marcus Harris batted on after being hit and batsmen from both sides got hit on shoulders but carried on. Itâs good aggressive cricket and it brings people to the game.â
The third day will be starting on Boxing day on December 26 in Melbourne.Â
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