
One of the fiercest rivalry in Test cricket has always been India vs Australia. No matter where these two teams clash, at home or away, fans get value for their time and money thanks to exciting cricket on display. And Virat Kohli and Mitchell Starc were two of the biggest rivals on the cricketing field in those encounters.
Virat Kohli’s Test retirement must have given some breathing space to the Australians, who have more than 2000 runs and 9 centuries against them.
And now Australia women’s cricketer Alyssa Healy, wife of Mitchell Starc, has claimed that the left-arm speedster loved bowling to the Indian batting legend, given the India batter's tendency to get out, but that is just one aspect of their whole back-and-forth competition.
"Funnily enough, Mitch liked bowling to him because he was like just hang it outside off-stump and Virat loved to nick it. But that's why I loved that. Everyone's saying he had this technical flaw. Yes, because he wants to hit the ball, and that's what he's done throughout his career," Healy said while speaking on the LiSTNR Sport podcast.
"To be brave enough and drive those balls on the up is going to get you in trouble now and then, but you've got to counter-attack as well. If you get it right, it puts it back on the bowler. But yeah, when he was unbelievably still at the crease, his head did not move. He looked so difficult to remove, and the flair he had on both sides of the wicket is pretty cool,” she added.
The host, Adam Peacock, then gave Healy a brief, spontaneous question about Australia and Kohli that went something like this.
Interviewer: “Which Australian cricketer has dismissed Virat Kohli the most times in Test cricket?”
Healy: “I feel like it's Mitchell [Starc]”
Interviewer: “And your bias would tell you that you're wrong”
Healy: “Umm, Are they still playing?”
Interviewer: “Yes”
Healy: “Josh Hazlewood”
Interviewer: “No”
Healy: “Ok, I give up”
Interviewer: “Nathan Lyon (7 dismissals). Next question. Out of Boland, Cummins, Hazlewood, Starc, who has dismissed Kohli the most?”
Healy: “I feel like it's Josh”
Interviewer: “I feel like you're out of wind. It's Mitch”
Healy: “Oh Mitch, I am a stinker.”
In Test cricket, Starc has dismissed Kohli six times, which is tied with Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali of England. Kohli has lost to Cummins, Hazlewood, and Scott Boland five times. Both former England pacer Stuart Broad and South Africa's Kagiso Rabada have taken Kohli's wicket five times apiece.
Peter Siddle, another former Australian pacer, has also done so. Naturally, Lyon and James Anderson are at the top with seven dismissals apiece.
