NEW DELHI: One of the key battles in the eagerly awaited Border Gavaskar Trophy, will be between leading Australia pacer Mitchell Starc taking on India stalwart Virat Kohli.
In their 19 innings together, Kohli and Starc have faced off, and in the Test format, the Indian has been extremely dominant against the left-arm bowler.
Even though Kohli defeated him in their head-to-head match, Starc admitted that he still enjoys his confrontations with the Indian ahead of the series.
“I enjoy my battles with Virat Kohli, it’s because we’ve played a lot of cricket against one another. I always have some good battles. I’ve managed to get him out once or twice, and he’s no doubt scored a fair few runs against me, so it’s always a good contest and one we both enjoy,” Starc said on Star Sports.
Starc also referred to India coach Gautam Gambhir as a “fantastic thinker” of the game and lauded his sense of team spirit.
The new chapter has gotten off to a brilliant start under Gambhir. India has easily conquered every challenge given before them, even if they lost the ODI series against Sri Lanka.
Gambhir’s biggest challenge as head coach since replacing Rahul Dravid will be the much anticipated Border Gavaskar Trophy, which begins in Perth on November 22.
Before the series, Starc heaped Gambhir with praise for his professionalism and willingness to put team spirit ahead of individualism.
“I mean, speaking from my experience at Kolkata, he is a fantastic thinker of the game. He’s always thinking about the opponent and how to get them out as a bowling attack or how to score runs as a batting attack,” Starc said.
“It’s not just individual players it’s always about the team focus and how to get on top of little things that he might see in techniques or in a field placement or anything like that. The nine weeks that I spent with him were fantastic. In a T20 setup, I know that he’s got some good things,” he added.