Australia’s pace-bowling spearhead in Indore Test, Mitchell Starc, showed strong character in the first session. Starc continued to bowl despite blood dripping front his injured finger that had ruled him out of the first two Tests. The left-arm pacer just wiped the blood from his finger while walking back to the start of his run-up.
However, this isn’t the first time Starc has bowled with an injured finger. In the Boxing Day Test against South Africa, Starc bowled on Day 3 at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) while blood dripped off his finger.
Starc bowled two overs in the first session and conceded six runs. Earlier in the day he could not do much with the bat as Australia lost six wickets for just 11 runs to throw away a chance to get massive first innings lead. Umesh Yadav sent his off stump for a walk during his sensational spell. He scored just one run from three deliveries. In the first innings, he remained wicketless. He was unlucky that skipper Steve Smith did not opt for review when Rohit Sharma was out twice in the first over of the match.
Even before his comeback to the playing eleven, Starc had said he has build a threshold for pain and it is not the first time he will play a Test despite not regaining 100 per cent fitness.
“There's going to be a level of discomfort… I don't think it is going to be 100% for a little while, but the ball is coming out quite nicely and I feel like I'm pretty much at full tilt,” the southpaw had told reporters before the Test.
"It's more the discomfort of the joint being restricted having been in a splint for six weeks and still having to be in a splint for another couple of weeks yet. That's probably the only part - dealing with the discomfort of it, getting the mobility back into it. That'll come over the next couple of weeks and it's progressed again, it's a progression each day I bowl. It's not a concern for me, the comfort levels - it's doing what I need it to do to be available to play.”
