Australia will find it tough in absence of Starc's pace and impact

Ajit Vijaykumar 07:52 13/03/2017
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  • Mitchell Starc.

    Mitchell Starc picked up only five wickets in the first two Tests against India. In fact, his 118 runs from four innings – the fifth best aggregate for either side – grabbed more headlines as he played India’s spinners with remarkable ease on some treacherous pitches.

    But he is a left-arm quick first and Australia value the impact he has with the ball way more than the runs he scores. Starc falls in that category of bowlers who turn up at critical junctures and throw the game wide open. Sometimes it’s just a wicket or two but that gets the job done.

    In the first Test in Pune, it was his double strike of Cheteshwar Pujara (caught behind from one that lifted awkwardly) and Virat Kohli (caught going for a drive) that broke India’s back and hopes. And in the second Test, with the Indians looking to run away with the match on the fourth day with six wickets in hand, Starc produced a spell of extreme pace that saw Ajinkya Rahane lbw and Karun Nair, a triple centurion against England, castled with deliveries close to and more than 150kmph respectively.

    What Starc has is a gift and it can’t be taught. Pacers like him make things happen, like a Shoaib Akhtar or a Brett Lee and it is that x-factor which the Aussies will miss in the Ranchi Test. Australia needed Starc now more than ever. The DRS drama has taken a life of its own, with Kohli stopping short of accusing the Australians of cheating and the Aussies establishment rallying around their skipper.

    When tensions are so high, you need a bowler who can produce that one spell out of nowhere to change the course of the game. While the DRS saga is nowhere close to the acrimonious Monkeygate of 2008, there are a few similarities. Both teams feel aggrieved and the spirit of the game has been put in the spotlight. Also, there is a long gap between the Bangalore and Ranchi Test, as was the case in 2008 between the Sydney and Perth matches, and that allows tensions to simmer.

    That Perth Test became a matter of honour and it was a once-in-a-lifetime spell by teenage quick Ishant Sharma to Ricky Ponting in the second innings that set the stage for a historic win for the Indians. Irfan Pathan was the man of the match in that Test but it was Ishant’s spell to Ponting that tilted the scales in India’s favour.

    Australia need that ‘something extra’ and Starc was the man for them. But he is now out of the picture due to a stress fracture in his right foot. In his absence, the load on Josh Hazlewood will increase greatly.

    Australia have brought in Pat Cummins to add some firepower but I am not sure if the Indians will be too worried. Cummins has only played one Test in his career, so chequered is his fitness record. Even this season, Cummins played just one first-class match and is now expected to play Tests in India in the most intense conditions imaginable. No matter how talented a bowler is, you need to have miles in your legs to make an impact. He will have to bowl out of his skin just to meet expectations.

    But that doesn’t mean all is lost for Australia. India’s batting is still short on confidence and the uncertainty over the nature of wickets will keep bowlers interested. But as we saw on the fourth day of the Bangalore Test, when India were on the verge of taking complete control, it was Starc who burst through the line-up and kept his team in the hunt. Without him, Australia will lose the sting in their tail.

    Shiv still going strong
    If you were wondering where West Indies great Shivnarine Chanderpaul is nowadays, he announced his whereabouts by cracking a first-class half century for Guyana against Jamaica. What was special about that innings is that the 42-year-old scored the runs alongside his 20-year-old son Tagenarine, who also scored a fifty.

    Talking about longevity, it was thought (actually, joked) that Sachin Tendulkar would play long enough to see his son Arjun make his debut. But Chanderpaul has gone one better and scored a fifty with his son.

    More than anything, it shows how good Shiv still is and that he was pushed out of the West Indies set-up rather abruptly. Agreed teams want to look beyond 40-plus batsmen but Chanderpaul didn’t even receive a farewell; the West Indies selectors simply stopped selecting him. Chanderpaul gave in and announced his retirement last year, with more than 10,000 Test runs to his name.

    He insists he was good enough to play for the West Indies. And looking at his recent form – he scored three successive centuries across formats at the beginning of the year – he can give a few current Caribbean batsmen a run for their money. For now, let’s just celebrate the phenomenon that is Chanderpaul.

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