Mitchell Starc more dangerous for India than Pat Cummins: Cheteshwar Pujara-OxBig News Network

India batter Cheteshwar Pujara feels Australia’s left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc has been more dangerous for India than their captain Pat Cummins. Notably, Starc didn’t have a memorable outing in the series opener in Perth as he registered match figures of 3/125. India opener Yashasvi Jaiswal also sledged him, saying that he was bowling too slow in the first Test.

The comment seemed to awaken the sleeping beast in Starc as he came back to pick 6/48 in the pink ball Test in Adelaide. The left-arm speedster finished with figures of 8/108 in the game, being the best bowler from his team. Commenting on Starc’s form, Pujara said that the Australia speedster has improved his bowling a lot in the past few years.

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“He has been their best bowler thus far in this series. He has improved his bowling a lot in the last one to one-and-a-half years. If I talk about my personal experience, when he used to bowl in the last two series, we felt we could get runs. However, now it seems like when he comes to bowl, he will pick up wickets,” said Pujara on Star Sports.

Further speaking ahead, Pujara called Starc even more dangerous than Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. He also suggested India to see off his first spell to avert his threat.

We need to make Starc bowl the second and third spells: Pujara

“He is looking more dangerous than Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. So we will have to manage his bowling, especially with the new ball. He has taken most of his wickets in his first five overs, his first spell. We need to bat well in the first five overs and make him bowl the second and third spells because he gets tired,” he added.

Starc is the joint second-highest wicket taker of the series so far with 14 wickets to his name from three matches at an average of 22.85 and an economy of 3.54. The veteran seamer has had the wood over Jaiswal having dismissed him in the very first over both in Adelaide and Brisbane.

Hence, Melbourne will once again treat fans with another mouth-watering clash between the two players, with both teams eager to take a lead in the series. Australia will miss the services of Josh Hazlewood who’s been ruled out of the entire series due to a side strain and will be replaced by Scott Boland.