Starc brings local nous to Bengaluru

The confidence Australia takes heading to their most successful venue in India for the second Test is compounded by the affinity strike bowler Mitchell Starc holds for the M Chinnaswamy Stadium at Bengaluru.

Even though Australia has pocketed two victories from the five Tests they've played in the city formerly known as Bangalore over the past 38 years, none of the current touring party have previously played red-ball cricket there.

Apart from coach Darren Lehmann, who was part of the landmark 2004 series win that found its impetus from a 217-run win in the opening Test at Chinnaswamy.

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But Starc's involvement with the local Indian Premier League franchise, Royal Challengers Bangalore, that spanned 10 matches from 2014 until he ended his association with the team this month will grant them invaluable knowledge of the stadium's idiosyncrasies.

And the 27-year-old already holds a clear idea of what will be awaiting them when they arrive at the ground tomorrow afternoon for their first training session ahead of the second Test against India that starts there on Saturday.

A pitch that bears no resemblance to the dry, cracked surface that was rolled out in Pune, to the detriment of the raging favourite home team, and is much more similar to the flat batting tracks seen in the five Tests that India hosted against England late last year.

A series that saw six totals of 450-plus in five matches, and finished with India posting an imposing 7(dec)-759 in the final match at Chennai.

"I can't see it being too bouncy or quick because it's a weakness of the Indian batters," Starc said today as the Australia squad prepared for the 90-minute flight from Pune to Bengaluru.

"We'll probably see it not turning as much as this (Pune) wicket has, or breaking up as quickly.

"I think we'll probably see a wicket similar to maybe the England series they had over here where it's probably flatter and there's some really big first-innings totals and the game happens a bit quicker towards the end.

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"It's a smaller ground, but a bit better of a wicket than what we've seen here in Pune.

"We know that first innings (totals) are going to be huge now for the rest of the series, and when we bat in the second innings to really make the most of it.

"If we can do that as a batting unit, it's going to leave us in great stead and then the bowlers we really feel like we can take 20 wickets whether it be with the reversing ball or, as we've seen this week, with spin."

Starc and his fast-bowling partner Josh Hazlewood sent down just 20 overs between them at Pune, such was the nature of a pitch hand-crafted for spin, which is the least reliant Australia has been on their historical fast-bowling strength in a Test for more than 80 years.

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But the left-armer, who was Australia's leading wicket-taker and most potent weapon on last year's 0-3 Test series loss in Sri Lanka that was contested on similarly pace-unfriendly tracks, is tipping a vastly increased workload at Bengaluru.

And he has identified the art of reverse swing as being crucial to being able to find a way through India's imposing top-order batting that failed so spectacularly in Pune, but is expected to hit back hard on a flat track in Bengaluru.

Having shared the new ball with player-of-the-match Steve O'Keefe in the opening Test, Starc noticed that conventional new-ball swing on the harsh, dry centre wicket block at Pune vanished after his first over.

"Obviously, we'll wait until we get there to see what the conditions are like (at Chinnaswamy) but I'm sure it will be a pretty dry wicket again," Starc said today.

"So that'll probably help reverse swing there and it's something we'll be working hard at all the time in the nets.

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"After the first over I bowled (in India's first innings at Pune) there was a little bit of natural swing, and then Steve obviously bowled at the other end and it was quite an abrasive wicket.

"It didn't swing after that.

"I think we can get better at reverse-swing, in terms of how we get that ball – looking after that shiny side, because if there's going to be more wickets like Pune, they're going to be so abrasive and really chop the ball up.

"So we probably didn't get it going as much as we would have liked, but there's three Tests to go and we're one-nil up.

"We know we've got huge reverse swing when we've got it here in India, so we'll have a look at what the (Bengaluru) wicket has got for us.

"There is probably going to be a couple of (recently used) wickets on the square as well, and when the ball gets into that off the bat it's going to create some rough sides on that ball.

"So it's about looking after that shiny side."

The fact that Australia secured their first Test win in Asia since 2011, and their first on Indian soil in more than a decade with Hazlewood (their best bowler of the home summer past) taking a solitary wicket and Starc two (albeit crucial strikes) has instilled further confidence in a buoyant camp.

Starc was head and shoulders Australia's most threatening bowler in Sri Lanka last year, when he routinely claimed vital wickets in his opening spell through a combination of genuine speed and late swing.

His 24 wickets at 15.16 was the best return by an Australia fast bowler in a three-Test campaign in Asia, the next-best being Glenn McGrath's 17 at 15.35 in India in 2001.

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And the template that he employed with such effect against Sri Lanka, but which could not be maintained by other Australia bowlers as the home team repeatedly built crucial lower-order partnerships, will likely feature prominently in the remaining three Tests of the current Qantas Tour of India.

"The Sri Lankan series is probably a blueprint for the way I want to bowl over here, in terms of using my air speed and really exploiting that reverse-swing to batsmen," Starc said today.

"Because if you're moving it off the straight, it makes it hard no matter where you're batting and if it's home or away conditions.

"It's something Josh (Hazlewood) has really improved on as well over the last 12 or 18 months, his reverse-swing bowling.

"He's a great exponent of it now as well, and it's something we can continue to work on as a fast-bowling pair."

Test Squads

India (for first two Tests): Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Wriddhiman Saha (wk), Ravichandaran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Ishant Sharma, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, Karun Nair, Jayant Yadav, Kuldeep Yadav, Abhinav Mukund, Hardik Pandya.

Australia: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Ashton Agar, Jackson Bird, Peter Handscomb, Josh Hazlewood, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Shaun Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Stephen O'Keefe, Matthew Renshaw, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, Matthew Wade

Australia's schedule in India

Feb 17-19, Tour match v India A, Mumbai

Feb 23-27, First Test: Australia won by 333 runs, Pune

Mar 4-8, Second Test, Bengaluru

Mar 16-20, Third Test, Ranchi

Mar 25-29, Fourth Test, Dharamsala