JOIN USMitchell Starc (99) and Steven Smith (92) were largely responsible for taking Australia to their highest total of the tour (408 all out) but the duo could well have been warming the bench had their four players not been sacked for the third Test following the ‘home-work gate.’
The two were unlucky to miss out on their respective maiden tons but they would have happily taken those scores at the start of the match. Starc talks on his knock, their bowling and Shikhar Dhawan’s innings:
On missing the hundred: I was disappointed not to get the hundred but going out this
morning, I was more concentrating on trying to hang around to get Steve Smith to get to a hundred. Unfortunately that didn’t happen and I was having a bit of fun out there. Before I knew, I looked up and I had a few runs to my name! I was disappointed not to get to a hundred at the same time pretty happy to get 99, I guess.
On nervous 90s: I played and missed about four balls that over. I was just enjoying being out there. I remember speaking about it at training that I changed my batting plan a bit for India. I like to get bat on ball. It’s a bit different here in that you have to be a bit more patient and chew up a lot more balls. Pleasing to do that today.
On missing first-choice bowlers: They (Indians) played well. The wicket’s offering nothing, so it’s nice to bat on. They batted really well. To be 180, as Shikhar was, without missing too many balls out of the middle of the bat... We weren’t at our best but they played well and we’re just going to have to come back tomorrow and get a few early (wickets) and get stuck into that order.
On Dhawan’s knock: I think he batted well. He’s obviously very off-side dominated and someone we can’t afford to give width to. There were times when we were not as patient with him as we should have been and at times when we gave him too much to hit, but he did bat very well.
On the pitch: Very flat. Hard work for the bowlers but it’s all about being patient and getting some bowling partnerships. That’s probably something we didn’t quite do in patches today and it has cost us on the scoreboard.
We’ll re-gather ourselves, come back tomorrow, hit them harder, put some pressure on and hopefully take some wickets.