Australian pacer and ‘Man of the Match’ Mitchell Starc said the early foray into the Indian batting line-up on power play saw his bowling partners attack more aggressively, leading to the hosts being bundled for 117 in just 26 overs during the second ODI at Visakhapatnam on Sunday. India suffered one of their worst ODI defeats against Australia with the visitors winning the match by 10 wickets to take the series 1–1 after Starc swept the entire top spot in power play. The left arm pacer took four wickets in power play overs to put figures of 5/53 for the match as Australia leveled the series 1–1.
“Look, it was a complete bowling performance from us, the fact that we took power play wickets allowed us to attack even more throughout the innings,” said Starc, who took his ninth five-for in ODIs.
He said the offensive intent while batting was also because India bundled for an undersized total. Mitchell Marsh and Travis Head hit fours and sixes in the 121-run unbeaten partnership as Australia finished the job in just 11 overs.
“Having a lower total to chase allowed us to be aggressive on the power play and Mitch (Marsh) and Trav (Travis Head) got off really well with the bat,” he said.
Starc compared the field at YS Rajasekhara Reddy ACA-VDCA Stadium to Wankhede Stadium in Mumbai where Australia were bowled out for 188 on a seam wicket and India also lost wickets in a cluster at the top before winning by five wickets.
“It was similar to Mumbai in that there was no scoreboard pressure on the chasing team at any stage,” Starc added.
Starc exposed the weaknesses of the Indian batters against quality left arm bowling by swinging the ball into it. Suryakumar Yadav was returned by the lanky quick for a second consecutive first-ball duck.
Asked if he had a plan for Surya, Starc said, “I can’t say if I’ve thought it that way (as to) who the batsman is on the other side. For me, the plan doesn’t change if it’s a left-hander or a right-hander, I’m still trying to bowl fast and swing it and hit the stumps,” he said.
Starc said there were no specific plans against the Indian right-handers. “My plan hasn’t changed for 13 years, which is to bowl full to the stumps and try to swing it in. I think that’s just been my role to try to take wickets up front in the power play and that means that I tend to bowl fuller than some other guys like Cameron Green or Pat (Cummins) or Josh (Hazlewood),” he said.
“Sometimes that means I’m more expensive, but I’m trying for a layoff, so I certainly (had) no new game plan in the last two games. It’s something I’ve done for a long time, being aggressive.” and take wickets and today our whole bowling attack did, when we had six wickets in the power play.
“That’s a big step forward in one-day cricket, when you have a powerful batting unit like India. If you can take wickets in the power play, it means you can control the game to a certain extent,” Starc added.
The Australian pace spearhead said the side was focused on winning the series in Chennai and was not too obsessed with the ODI World Cup preparations at the moment.
“Some of us have been here to get used to the conditions. Having one eye on the World Cup in certain circumstances and against India is a by-product of the series,” he said.
“This is still an (ongoing) series against India, which we want to win. We are moving to Chennai for the decider, which is exciting. Once we get past that game, there will be more focus on the World Cup. (There are ) parts of the series with the World Cup in mind, but especially for this group there is a chance to win a one-day in India, which is quite special,” he concluded.
(This story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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