Kohli will be back bigger and stronger, says paceman Starc

Mitchell Starc may have won the opening duel against Indian skipper Virat Kohli by getting the star batsman out for a duck in the first Test, but the Australian fast bowler insists the battle has just begun. Starc triggered India’s downfall in last week’s first Test in Pune by claiming the wickets of Cheteshwar Pujara and Kohli in quick succession in the first innings before left-arm spinner Steve O’Keefe took charge.
Australia bowled out India for paltry totals of 105 and 107 in the two innings, with O’Keefe taking a total of 12 wickets as the visitors wrapped up a 333-run win inside three days. Kohli, who has been in red-hot form in recent months, had a rare failure with scores of 0 and 13 in his two outings. Guilty of chasing Starc’s wide delivery outside the off-stump, Kohli gave away a catch to Peter Handscomb at first slip and the batting soon fell apart on a sharply turning wicket.
“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,” Starc told reporters yesterday. “We know he’ll come back bigger and stronger, but he’s one I’ll take over Pujara at the moment,” Starc said when asked to rate the importance of his twin strikes in Pune.
Starc and Kohli are former team-mates for the Indian Premier League (IPL) side Royal Challengers Bangalore, and the Australian is well aware of how dangerous the Indian skipper can be once he gets his eye in. “He’s a class player, we all know that. He’s scored a mountain of runs already this year. We’re going to have to be wary of that Virat comeback,” Starc said of Kohli, who has scored double centuries in four successive series.
“We are really happy that it happened that way for us, but we know that one Test is not going to win us the series. It’s three important Test matches to go.”
Starc is also bracing for a heavier workload in the second Test having hardly broken a sweat in his team’s romp in the series opener in Pune. “It’s amazing. I think it’s making up for the summer Josh and I had,” Starc said. “The spinners bowled really well and the pitch didn’t have much in it for Josh and me.
“There was very minimal natural swing because it was so abrasive and it didn’t really go too much reverse. But when Steve’s taking that many wickets and Nathan’s bowling really well there’s not really much need for us on that wicket.”
With the smarting hosts unlikely to repeat the mistake of rolling out another turning track at Bengaluru, Starc reckoned he and Hazlewood would have to shoulder more responsibility in the match starting on Saturday.
“I’m sure it will be a pretty dry wicket again, so that will probably help reverse swing there and it’s something we’ll be working hard at all the time in the nets,” said the 27-year-old.
“It’s about looking after that shine on an abrasive square. And if it’s not going to spin as much in Bangalore, we’re going to have to make sure we’re using that reverse swing to make up for not as much spin as we’ve seen here in Pune.”
Starc did not hide his glee at having silenced those who had predicted a 4-0 whitewash for his team though he refused to get totally carried away.
“To shut a few people up and really show that this young team is here to play has been great for the group. But it’s one test win, it’s not a series win yet so we’ll be doing all we can,” he added.
After the next Test in Bangalore, the two teams are also due to play in Ranchi and Dharamsala.
Barring a last-minute intervention from the home side, the second Test will be played on a “sporting” pitch which will be fair to both teams, organisers in Bengaluru have said. Pitch talk dominated reaction in India to their series-opening defeat inside three days in Pune.
Many believe India’s ploy to roll out a turning track backfired on the hosts, who would do well not to ask for a similar pitch as they chase a series-levelling victory in the second Test.