Ever since the IND vs AUS Test at the MCG started, there were rumours that Aussie pacer Mitchell Starc was nursing a back injury. It was believed that the lanky bowler won’t bowl in the second innings of the match, nor won’t be available for the Sydney Test. But then, at the end of day 4, Starc clarified, “I am 100%… My pace is still up in the low 140s, so I’m not concerned. If I need to bowl 20 overs tomorrow, I will.”
Mitchell Starc vs Virat Kohli
Having said that, Mitchell Starc looked in visible discomfort during the second session of the final day of the match. He was seen holding his left side of the back after a delivery. He looked in bad shape, but returned to bowl a few more overs. In fact, in his first two spells of the day, he returned with figures of 1/13 in 10 overs, picking up the big wicket of Virat Kohli.
AUS in Trouble?
Starc, making the batsman miss many, bowled one wide outside the off stump, that Virat chased, and ended up edging it to first slip to perish for 5 from 29. That put the hosts Australia in an advantageous position, to head to a win at the Melbourne Test. But over-bowling Starc in the second innings could mean, that he could miss the fifth and final Test at Sydney, after all.
Already, Josh Hazlewood has been out injured in the last two Test matches of the series, and an injury to Starc could heavily deplete the Aussie squad for the match. In the series so far, he has picked up 15 wickets in 4 matches, at an average of 28.
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