Australia's left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc is in the twilight years of his career. The 34-year-old is looking forward to the Border-Gavaskar series at home. Starc who has had struggles with injuries and often admitted that he has bowled despite not being at 100 per cent opened doesn't see himself having a prolonged career like legendary England pacer James Anderson.
“I’ve been very lucky to play three formats for a very long time. How long that will continue, I’m not sure. The scheduling of three formats is getting harder and harder and finding blocks of time to spend time on my body is going to take away from others," Starc said (via The Sydney Morning Herald).
“Tests are still definitely the pinnacle for me and I think my body will play a part in that decision whenever it gets to it. I’m not someone like Jimmy who played until he was 40-odd and had incredible skills to swing it both ways. I’ve never been that bowler and there’s plenty of better bowlers around the country to fill that job. I’m really looking forward to this summer and I haven’t put any expiry date on anything just yet," he added.
In order to avoid injuries, Starc missed several seasons of the Indian Premier League (IPL). He returned to play for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) as the most expensive player in IPL history and helped them win the trophy despite getting off to a poor start with the ball.
Starc compares Border-Gavaskar series to Ashes
The New South Wales is a veteran of 89 Tests. He has 358 wickets including 14 fifers. He is currently Australia's fourth-highest wicket-taker in Tests. The southpaw also compared the Border-Gavaskar series to Ashes based on the level of competitiveness.
“It’s thrown it right on par with an Ashes series being [expanded to] five Tests. The Border-Gavaskar doesn’t have that length of history [as the Ashes] but I think the level of competitiveness between both trophies is on par. We’re currently one and two in the Test table so there will be a bit of spice to it," he said.
Starc’s record against India in Tests
Starc has played 18 Tests against India and bagged 48 wickets at an average of 38.54. He is yet to register a fifer in an innings against India in the format.
MORE ON SPORTS TAK
