“I wouldn’t bowl to him in England" - Mitchell Starc's massive statement on star Indian batter amid ENG vs IND 2025 3rd Test 

Veteran Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has said that he would not want to bowl to Team India Test captain Shubman Gill on the flat wickets on offer in England. The ace batter has made the most of the drab pitches by slamming three centuries in four innings of the five-match Test series.

Shubman Gill kick-started his Test captaincy stint with a sublime 147 in the series opener at Headingley, Leeds. He went a few steps further by slamming a career-high 269 and 161, in the first and the second innings of the second Test at Edgbaston, Birmingham.

The right-handed batter's recent exploits led to a massive spike in his position in the ICC Test Rankings. He held an average of 35.06 coming into the series, which has now spiked to 42.72 in the space of a couple of matches.

Mitchell Starc admitted that he does not see the point of such pitches, and revealed not tracking the series in England apart from glancing the scorecards.

“I wouldn’t bowl to him in England, that’s for sure. I didn’t see much of the game, I saw the scorecards. There was a few guys that were waking up, particularly Marnus and Alex Carey and Steve Smith who would sit around a coffee machine and watch the game. I did see the scores. Who would be a kid in England and want to bowl on some of those wickets. But from all reports, it was very sub-continent like which I find it hard to believe,” Starc said on the Willow Talk Podcast (via Indian Express).

England captain Ben Stokes had expressed his disappointment in how the pitch for the second Test at Edgbaston played out. He termed the surface as a 'subcontinent' wicket, a comment which has not been well-received by fans and pundits.

Mitchell Starc bowled to Shubman Gill in England during the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) Final

Although Starc might not wish to bowl to Gill in England, he has already done so on one occasion, during the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) at The Oval. The right-handed batter, opening the innings back then, scored 13 and 18 in the first and second innings, respectively, before being dismissed by Scott Boland on both occasions.

Starc, on the other hand, picked up four wickets in Australia's 209-run win. He had first-hand experience of the flat pitches in England in the Bazball era during the 2023 Ashes. He emerged as the leading wicket-taker of the series, with 23 scalps at an average of 27.08.