Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has weighed on the pitches served for the first two India versus England Tests at Headingley and Edgbaston, saying that he wouldn’t want to bowl to the in-form Shubman Gill on such “absolute highways."

India’s new captain has aggregated 585 runs in just two matches of the five-Test series, including two centuries and one double hundred.

Not taking account the ongoing third Test at Lord’s, Gill stands just 18 runs short of becoming the most prolific Indian batter on the tour of England, with Rahul Dravid leading the chart, having scored 602 runs in the 2002 series.

“I wouldn’t bowl to him (Gill) in England, that’s for sure. I didn’t see much of the game, I saw the scorecards. There were 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," Starc said while speaking on the Willow Talk Podcast.

“But from all reports, it was very sub-continent like which I find it hard to believe. The pitches looked brutal for bowlers,” he added.

Shubman Gill kicked off his Test captaincy stint with a fine innings of 147 at Headingley but India lost that game by five wickets. He then produced knocks of 269 and 161 to script India’s historic 336-run victory over England at Edgbaston.

On the show, Australian women’s team star Alyssa Healy asked Starc if he is worried about the high scores in England ahead of the upcoming Ashes series Down Under.

To which, Starc replied, “I don’t read into any of it. It’s hard to I mean it’s the same as they’re probably reading into us over here on wickets that are hard to bat on. And we’re that would be the same as us sitting and going, ‘Ok, they’re playing on absolute highways’.

He further remarked, "What do you take out of 300 runs for a Test match and India bowling them out? I don’t know. They are not playing for draws. That’s what you take out of it."

(With inputs from PTI)