Mitchell Starc enjoyes leading bowling attack in absence of Johnson

On cloud nine after bagging back-to-back man of the match awards in the ongoing cricket tri-series, left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc said on Sunday he is relishing the opportunity of leading Australia's bowling attack in the absence of pace spearhead Mitchell Johnson.

After picking up four for 42 in the three-wicket win over England in the tri-series opener, Starc registered his best bowling figures of six for 43 in Australia's four-wicket victory over India at Melbourne today. "We all know our roles really well. When Mitchell Johnson is back, he will bowl fast and will be aggressive, so we are all trying to pick up the slack. It will be great to have him back but in his absence I like this role. It is great to take wickets while trying to bowl fast and doing my role for the team," Starc said after Australia registered their second consecutive win in the tri-series at the MCG today.

"When Mitch comes back at some point, our roles might change, some guys might miss out and some others might come in. In the meantime though I am taking it game by game," he said. India rode on Rohit Sharma's 138 -– his sixth ODI hundred –- to score 267 for eight before Aaron Finch's 96 helped Australia overwhelm the target with one over to spare.

"India played some good cricket tonight. But we took some key wickets at key moments to restrict them to under 300 and it was a good bowling effort from us," Starc said. "They pulled it back during the chase after we were 200-odd for 2 and they got on top of us. But it was a fantastic finish to the game and it is good to finish on the right side," he said.