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India vs Australia: Mitchell Starc’s swing-bowling — Poetry in motion

Steven Smith, the No. 1 batsman in ICC Test rankings, will score those daddy hundreds. David Warner, The Reverend, will boast of his attacking brand of cricket. However, for Australia to beat India, they need Starc at the top of his form.

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Mitchell Starc © Getty Images
Mitchell Starc © Getty Images

He took 24 wickets at 15.16 in a three-Test series against Sri Lanka in Sri Lanka amidst a 3-0 drubbing over his side, the no. 1 Test team during the series. He took 11 more wickets than other pacers combined in his side’s first whitewash in Sri Lanka. He averaged less than half the side’s main spinner in a series that admittedly brought shame to captain Steven Smith.

These numbers speak volumes of a spinner. Maybe there were too many cracks the spinner had exploited to trap the batsmen in a maze. Maybe the curators had dished out a rank turner. Maybe the opposition batsmen did not know how to play spin. All these traits, facts, and numbers befit a spinner’s profile by all means, don’t they?

But remember the side’s main spinner averaged 31.93, more than double of 15.16? Nathan Lyon, the main spinner, took 16 wickets at 31.93, on tracks that saw Rangana Herath take 28 wickets at 12.75. Hence, the possibility of him being the spinner in this story-telling is erased.

This is not even Mitchell Johnson, who had taken 37 wickets at 13.97 in the 2013 Ashes. He was long retired by then. It may not be this Mitchell but his namesake Starc.

This Mitchell looks unlike any furious fast bowler, unlike Johnson. He does not sport a shaggy moustache. This Mitchell wears an expression unlike any dangerous fast bowler, unlike Dennis Lillee; he does not send chills down the spine. This Mitchell appears unlike any brawny fast bowler, unlike Allan Donald; he does not hold terror for the opposition.

This Mitchell, the Starc, does not give you an impression of a fast bowler. He has a cute smile (some even call it a grin). He is clean-shaven (though he tried to sport a moustache, but his trial rather regressed). He is lanky.

However, Starc rose to prominence amidst Australia’s ruins. From hitting timber to rapping on pads to finding edges, he tried to rise above misfortune but his team faced the unprecedented.

Nonetheless, for Australia, Starc is now a hope, a rare tree found in a barren area of land that hardly sees any plantation. Nonetheless, for Australia, Starc is now a hope, an improbability found in a barren area of land that rarely sees fast bowlers advance ahead of spinners. Nonetheless, for Australia, Starc will water his team’s dry hopes in the upcoming four-Test series in India, the land of masterful batsmen.

Starc will be up against the No. 1 team in ICC Test rankings. Starc will be up against Virat Kohli, the man who scored a double-century in each of the last four series. Starc will be up against the might of Indian batting at its own conditions.

The Starc difference

Such has been Mitchell Starc’s dominance that India invited domestic cricketer Aniket Choudhary to practise left-arm bowling in the nets. Starc has dismissed Murali Vijay 5 times and Kohli only once, but only after the two had smashed him to pulp.

On the other hand, his deliveries will be flicked with conviction if they are slightly pitched up. Along with Vijay and Kohli, other batsmen such as KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, and Wriddhiman Saha, among others, will pierce the leg-side field. All the same, there is a reason Indian batsmen are hell-bent on practising against a left-armer.

Poetry in motion

Like an arc, Starc’s delivery almost forms a semicircle from the point of release to the stumps. The delivery almost boomerangs, giving a notion that the ball might return to him.

The seam does not wobble, not one bit. It is static, like a serene lake — calm and tranquil, somewhat like Kapil Dev’s but in the other direction, like S Sreesanth’s but with a curve. For the better want of words, his swing bowling is poetry in motion.

Starc does not swing the ball both ways, but some of his deliveries hold their line even after forming an arc. Indians will be mindful of this. If the bat comes down at the angle, the ball will find a leading edge to the off. Kohli and Rahane are likely to fall prey to this. And then there is Pujara, who often gets knocked over. If Starc comes round the wicket, we will see an encore of RP Singh finding a gap between Kevin Pietersen’s bat and pad.

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Above all, even more significantly than his new-ball bowling, Starc can reverse-swing the ball. With a smooth jump, a long extension of his front arm and open-chest action, he creates late movement, so late that the ball sneaks through before the batsman figures out how to play it. The ball reverses even more vigorously in the subcontinent conditions. The latest example was Umesh Yadav’s entertaining spell against Shakib Al Hasan in the recently concluded India-Bangladesh Test.

If not this, Starc has a sharp yorker in his arsenal — a weapon he often uses across formats.

The unconquered opposition

Starc’s first overseas assignment was against India, on a flat, unhelpful Chennai track — in other words, a Bermuda Triangle of sort for pacers. His first overseas assignment was in a match that saw MS Dhoni reduce Australia to a punching bag with a 265-ball 224. His first overseas assignment bore no fruit; he went wicketless. Australia lost the match by 8 wickets, eventually losing the series 0-4 — the first time Starc was part of a beaten Australian team.

[inline-quotes] Starc’s ship, in all probability, was stuck in the sand at the start of his career [/inline-quotes]

Starc’s ship, in all probability, was stuck in the sand at the start of his career. It took a while to sail. And when it did, he sailed through the roughest of storms, like his deliveries voyage between the bat and pad of the best of batsmen.

The turning point

Johnson had obliterated England in the 2013-14 Ashes, but he had his support: Ryan Harris had averaged 23.50 on that tour; James Pattinson had rattled batsmen with his raw pace, and Peter Siddle had disturbed batsmen with his probing spells and umpires with his probing appeals. Starc remained a second fiddle until he took 6 for 28 against New Zealand at Auckland in the 2015 World Cup. He ran in hard, swung the ball in, and dismantled stumps as many as 4 times, including the likes of Ross Taylor and Grant Elliott.

Such was his dominance that he ended the tournament as the highest wicket-taker, eventually heralded as the Man of the Tournament and that too in his maiden ICC flagship event.

Starc keeps umpires busy. The square-leg umpire often has to stem uprooted stumps. His partner often has to brainstorm when the batsman is caught lbw. Worse, he has to go upstairs (not literally, but I have no idea why the commentators say so) and call for DRS.

Can he pull off the unlikely?

Australia have not won a Test (let alone a series) in India since 2004-05. From Brett Lee to Johnson to Siddle to Cummins, none could conquer India for the past 13 years. The same fate had befallen on Starc four years ago, when he played 2 fruitless Tests, though one of them witnessed him falling one short of a maiden hundred.

Yes, he can bat as well. He is wristy. He flicks off the back foot. He plays late, guiding it past the slip cordon. He can use the long handle as well. Though he often locks his front foot, he is good enough to churn out vital runs down the order.

Smith, the No. 1 batsman in ICC Test rankings, will score those daddy hundreds. David Warner, The Reverend, will boast of his attacking brand of cricket. Nathan, the Lyon-hearted spinner, will find inside edges that will brush the pad and fly to the forward short-leg’s hands. These men, without a shadow of doubt, will play big roles if Australia are to keep India at bay.

However, for Australia to beat India, they need Starc at the top of his form.

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