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XtraTime Time Web Desk: Australia’s left arm pace spearhead Mitchell Starc on Tuesday expressed his excitement at the prospect of playing a pink ball test in the forthcoming test series coming up against India later this year. Starc, never a huge fan of the pink ball has welcomed the prospect of bowling it against India in a day-night test over the home summer.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had earlier shared its reservations about playing a Day Night test match during the last tour Down Under in 2018-19. But the current BCCI President and former India captain Sourav Ganguly had made it clear in February that they have no problem in playing a pink ball test during the series later this year.

“I think absolutely a pink ball test in this series against India is a great thing,” Starc told reporters in a video conference on Tuesday.
“The fans love it, it creates a different aspect of the contest. I think bat and ball are a lot closer together.

“India have obviously played a pink ball test at home so they’re not completely foreign to it.

“I guess in terms of the advantage if you like, we do have a good record at home with the pink ball.

“It’s no different to us going to India and they’ve got the advantage there.”

Australia have won all seven day-night tests they have played and Starc’s prowess with the pink ball has been key. He has taken 42 wickets at an average of 19.23 with the pink ball against an average of 26.97 in all tests.

The 30-year-old fast bowler also expressed his concerns over International Cricket Council’s (ICC) recommendation to ban the use of saliva to shine the ball when the sport returns after the coronavirus shutdown. According to Starc, it would hand batsmen a big advantage.
“Kids aren’t going to want to be bowlers because as we saw in Australia over the last couple of years, there were some pretty flat wickets and if that ball’s going straight, it’s a pretty boring contest,” he said.