Aus vs Ind 2020: Mitchell Starc rues missed chances, lauds Ajinkya Rahane

Australia’s fast bowler Mitchell Starc rued the missed chances after India dominated the second day of the Boxing Day Test match at Melbourne on Sunday. The visitors are in a commanding position at 277-5 after Ajinkya Rahane scored a brilliant century. Thus, India have a lead of 82 runs and they will look to bat Australia out of the Test match.

It was not a perfect day for Australia as they couldn’t take their chances. The hosts have so far dropped five catches in India’s innings and thus they are on the backfoot. In fact, Australia have given two lives to Ajinkya Rahane, who is unbeaten on 104 runs. It was a frustrating day for Australia as they couldn’t strike at regular intervals after having India at 64-3.

Meanwhile, Starc also heaped praise on India’s captain Ajinkya Rahane, who scored his 12th Test century. Rahane played with great control and scored his runs with flair.

“It (the knock by Rahane) was pretty good. He absorbed some pressure there and sort of steadied the ship for them, at (a time) when they were still behind our score,” Starc said at the virtual post-day press conference. 

“Pretty much that (frustrating day for the bowlers). The last ball pretty much summed up the day, so again not our best day, not our worst, we created a fair few chances and unfortunately could not hang onto those half ones or those changes we created,” he said. 

In fact, Rahane was dropped twice on Mitchell Starc’s bowling as Steve Smith and Travis Head bungled their chances. Smith is a brilliant felder and one doesn’t expect him to drop a straight forward opportunity whereas Travis Head had caught the ball but shelled it at the last second when his hands touched the ground.

It was frustrating for Australia as nothing much worked for them. Furthermore, Ravindra Jadeja is also looking solid and he is batting unbeaten on 40 runs. The visitors will look to consolidate on their dominating position.

Meanwhile, Australia will know that a good session can help them turn the tables as they had done in Adelaide and thus the hosts will be hopeful of a turnaround on Day three.