Mitchell Starc: 'We bowled exceptionally well'

Mitchell Starc said the team did well to stay in control of the match even when the ball was soft and stopped moving around.

Published : Dec 06, 2018 17:13 IST

Mitchell Starc celebrates the dismissal of India opener Murali Vijay at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday.

Mitchell Starc was a tired but happy man. He had prised out Murali Vijay and Ishant Sharma, and had helped Australia control the first Test’s opening day’s action for a considerable amount of time.

Match Report

“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,” the Aussie spearhead told the media here on Thursday.

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He also gave due credit to Cheteshwar Pujara: “We probably got it a bit wrong at the end there. Pujara batted a lot of time, he is 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 would take losing the toss and (India) being 9 for 250 at stumps, I think we would have bitten your arm off.”

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The left-arm fast bowler, who aims to reclaim the rhythm he had during the 2015 World Cup, appreciated Usman Khawaja’s brilliant catch to dismiss Virat Kohli. “Usman Khawaja 3.0 isn't it? He is on fire, he has made a huge effort over the last nine months and I guess it's showing in his batting and now in his fielding. A great catch and probably one he will keep bringing up often,” Starc said.