Tim Paine: Mitchell Starc is 'just a bloke who’s trying his best'

Starc finished India's first innings with figures of 1-123 off 26 overs, without bowling a single maiden, as India declared towards the end of the day on 622 for 7

Australia captain Tim Paine has leapt to the defence of his opening bowler Mitchell Starc after the left-armer faced more criticism for his performance in the first innings of the fourth Test.

Starc finished with figures of 1-123 off his 26 overs, without bowling a single maiden, as India declared towards the end of the day on 622 for 7.

“I don't know what people expect from him,” Paine said. “His stats for his whole career have been outstanding.

“When he's at his best, he's brilliant. When he's not, not so much, but he's not running out trying to spray the ball everywhere.

“That's what I don't get with the criticism he's getting; Mitchell Starc is trying his absolute best to do the same thing he did a year ago when he was swinging the ball around corners.

^{Mithcell Starc took 1-123 during India's first innings}

“He's down on confidence a little bit and I sometimes think people forget that he's just a bloke who's trying his best.

“I know he's playing at the highest level and they expect a lot from him but it doesn't always work; it's Test cricket, he's coming up against some very, very good batters and he's not quite at his best.

“But we've got full confidence with a little bit of hard work, and he's going to have a little bit of time off during the one-dayers, so there's some time for him to go back and look at what's going wrong with him at the moment.

“Has he been at his best this series? No, he hasn't. Has he been for a little while? Probably not.

“Starcy knows that, he's working on it, he's being really honest about it and he's trying to figure out exactly what it is that's missing at the moment."