Australias premier left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc believes that bowlers of his side are good enough to take out talismanic India batter Virat Kohli on an intriguing day five of the World Test Championship final at The Oval on Sunday.
India were still alive in the monumental chase of 444, with Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane remaining unbeaten on 44 and 20 in a crucial 71-run partnership for the fourth wicket. India need 280 more runs to win while Australia require seven right balls to bowl them out quickly on day five.
“That’s what you want in a final, a good spectacle, two of the best teams, comes down to the last day of this Test match. It’s exciting for us, it’s certainly exciting for the fans. We have a great attack that can take that wicket (of Kohli), fortunate (to take him out) in the first innings,” said Starc in a pre-day chat with broadcasters.
The highest successful fourth-innings Test run chase is 418 achieved by West Indies against Australia in Antigua in 2003, while the highest chase at The Oval is 263 done in 1902. The highest fourth innings score at The Oval is India’s 429/8 against England in 1979 in the drawn match where Sunil Gavaskar scored a double century.
Asked about off-spinner Nathan Lyon’s importance on day five, Starc said, “The wicket of Rohit was big for us. There’s enough there as we saw with Jadeja, obviously different bowlers but I think he’s still playing a valuable role for us. One that can take wickets, one that can hold one end. A big day for Nathan as well.”
Starc further said Australia are hoping for the pitch, which has suddenly flattened out, to break a little so that they can make inroads into the Indian batting line-up.
“Pitch might play a part, it’s not quite shown the tricks and the demons we thought it might. But day five could toss up all sorts of things,” the pacer said.
“Was a little bit surprising, we can see from the surface that there’s some cracks there. Hope for it to break up a little bit more today, sun’s obviously out. It’s been warmer the last couple of days, we’ll see how the day plays out. We just need to be patient,” he added.
Starc signed off by saying his first change in the bowling line-up is due to captain Pat Cummins and Scott Boland providing a different variety with the new ball bowling.
“It’s the Duke ball, it stays nice throughout the day. Doesn’t change too much, obviously Scotty (Boland) and Patty (Cummins) present something different than what I do,” he said.
“The great thing with us is not only the three of us but certainly Josh (Hazlewood), Ness (Michael Neser) as well can all bowl with the new ball. That offers a few options for Pat when he likes to change things up,” he added.
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