India vs Australia: Mitchell Starc hopeful of playing second Test

An optimistic Mitchell Starc on Wednesday said he is looking forward to returning to Australia’s playing XI for the second Test against India starting in New Delhi on Friday. The pacer missed the series opener, which Australia lost by an innings by 132 runs within three days, because of tendon damage in his left middle finger. He reached India on Saturday. “There are some boxes to tick but it’s on track … I want to be a little further down the road (in recovery),” Starke told reporters.

“But it is progressing – not as fast as I would like, but it is as planned in terms of medical material. I will do everything I can to be fully available for selection. Then include There’s a discussion for the rest of the group.” ,” He added.

Australia have been plagued by injuries to key players including Starc and all-rounder Cameron Green, who is also recovering from a finger injury.

Both practiced bowling on the centre-wicket strip on Wednesday, while Green also batted for over an hour.

A decision on his selection will be taken on Thursday.

“Maybe I had different expectations compared to what the reality is, but taking it forward today, we’ll see how it goes when it picks up tomorrow,” Stark said.

“It will come down to how it reacts by the end of the day, how the medical staff see it, how the selectors and Pat and ‘Ronnie’ (coach Andrew McDonald) feel about it.” The left-arm fast bowler said that he still does not have full strength in his finger.

“Having been in a splint for six weeks, there’s still a little bit of strength loss. There’s still a fair bit of restriction there, it’s making progress every day,” Stark said.

Starc injured his finger while fielding against South Africa in December. His finger has been bandaged for weeks.

He said that batting would be uncomfortable, adding that he would be fielding with a protective cap.

“I don’t think (batting will be an issue) so it will be uncomfortable but I don’t think it is an issue,” he said.

“I think I’ll still be fielding with the cap on (the finger), that’s what I did in Melbourne (after breaking his finger at the start). I don’t field myself in the slips anyway.” Talking about the surface of the Arun Jaitley Stadium here, he said, “For the last few days it looks like it has been prepared to a great extent (similar to Nagpur). It looks very dry.

“The groundsman said the nets looked pretty similar and the two days we trained were really short and took a lot of turn. If it’s an indication, it’s going to be so.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and was auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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