Australia pacer Scott Boland was pleased with his personal effort in his first overseas Test for Australia and hopes he has put enough pressure on selectors to keep his place for the second Test against India despite Mitchell Starc returning he faces a fight to hold his spot.
Starc missed the first Test against India in Nagpur because of the finger injury he suffered in late December. The hosts registered a thumping victory in the first test. A five-wicket haul by Ravichandran Ashwin combined with the all-round performance by Ravindra Jadeja and Axar Patel helped India clinch victory by an inning and 132 runs within three days of the first Test at Nagpur.
Boland wasn’t supposed to play in Nagpur, but Josh Hazlewood’s Achilles injury opened the door for him, and he bowled 17 overs for 34 runs in India’s 400-run innings.
“I felt like I bowled well, but when you are bringing in someone like Mitchell Starc, who is a gun in these conditions and has bowled really well in Sri Lanka and Pakistan, hopefully, I made the selectors job a little bit tougher than what it originally was,” Boland told cricket.com.au.
“In places like here, it is tough to judge [how you went] as a fast bowler but I think I contributed to our game plan and I played my role pretty well. I think I had a pretty good spell in conjunction with Toddy a couple of times so I was happy with how the ball came out,” he added.
Mitchell Starc, who arrived in Delhi, is also expected to be available for the second Test. Cameron Green is striving to play the second Test, but it may be a stretch as he recovers from a fractured finger, while Josh Hazlewood is still out with an Achilles injury.
“Obviously I want to play. I enjoyed the challenge of bowling in these different conditions. I’ve just got to make the selectors’ job as hard as I can to bring someone in,” Boland said.
Despite not taking a wicket, he rarely put a foot wrong, recording statistics of 17-4-34-0 and looking dangerous most of the time. Boland might make way for seasoned pacer Starc, who is expected to return for the second Test in Delhi. It may seem harsh, but Australia sorely needs Starc, a true wicket-taker and one of the best practitioners of reverse swing.
“We don’t know. I’m not sure. I haven’t seen Starcy bowl. I’m not sure if he’s going to be right to play. I assume he is if he’s over here. I don’t think we’re going to play three fast bowlers. There’s only going to be two spots up for grabs, I reckon,” the Australia seamer said.
The second Test of the series will be held in Delhi’s Arun Jaitley Stadium from February 17-21. (ANI)
