08 June,2019 07:41 AM IST | London | Santosh Suri
Mitchell Starc celebrates a Windies wicket on Thursday
There is just no respite for a modern-day cricketer as he gets little time to enjoy the success. Mitchell Starc had barely taken care of the West Indies batting in a close game at Nottingham on Thursday with a five-wicket haul and he was immediately bombarded with questions on the eagerly-awaited contest with India at The Oval on Sunday.
In a jiffy he had to shift his focus on the next opponents, not by choice but by the question aimed at him about the impeding clash with India and his battle with the top batsman in the world, Virat Kohli.
He was asked: "You didn't play against India in March [bilateral series], but what did you learn from watching that series and from watching them against South Africa yesterday that you can take into Sunday?"
Starc's curt reply was: "I don't remember watching the series at home, but if I did I don't remember it." It was a sort of answer to give the impression that India was just another opponent in the World Cup and it was just another game of cricket for the defending champions.
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Different conditions
He was then asked a pointed question on how would he bowl to Kohli: "Look, it's different conditions again. We're playing at The Oval. I guess taking a little bit out of how they played against South Africa yesterday, they played pretty well. I didn't see too much of their batting. But I watched their bowling.
'India's got depth in batting'
"Look, we go to The Oval tomorrow. I don't think we'll be at the ground but we'll be there the day before and have a look at the conditions. I guess talking about a bowling group, for us it's to continue talking about what we do really well and what we can control. We know they're a fantastic team. They've got depth in their batting, they're strong throughout.
"Virat is obviously one of their key batsmen. Rohit [Sharma] scored a hundred, as well, so we'll have a chat about them as a bowling group. But at the same time, we've got to remember what we can control, and that's... I guess... our strengths and where we want to bowl in the given conditions as well."
Of course, a fit Starc bowling at his full hog may be good news for the Aussies but India would be rather wary of his early form and the way he bowled against West Indies.
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