“I didn’t actually hear him say I bowled too slow. I don’t say too much to people these days. I may have been back in the day, but now I just sort of get on with it. Played that flick shot and I think I bowled pretty much the same ball, and he defended it. I asked where the flick shot was, and he laughed at me. We just left it at that,” Starc told cricket.com.au.

It happened during India’s second innings when Jaiswal, after hitting Starc for a boundary in the same over, defended a back-of-length delivery from the left-arm arm seamer and said, “It’s coming too slow.” The sledge was caught on the stump mic and Starc was seen turning back and walk to his mark with a smile on his face.

The reason behind Jaiswal’s unprovoked sledge for a senior cricketer like Starc was hidden in Australia’s first innings. In the first session of Day 2, Starc sledged India’s debutant Harshit Rana after the right-arm pacer badgered him with short-pitched deliveries. “I bowl faster than you, Harshit, and I have a long memory,” Starc told the Indian pacer. The two shared the dressing room at the Kolkata Knight Riders in IPL 2024.

Jaiswal scored 161, the highest score by an Indian opener on Australian soil, to help India set a massive target for Australia. The hosts didn’t even come close to the target and were beaten by a record 295 runs.

Starc all praise for Jaiswal

Starc was all praise for Jaiswal, calling a fearless young cricket who is destined to play a lot of cricket for India.

“He’ll play a lot of cricket for India and be highly successful. Certainly, he played really, really well in that second innings. He adapted to conditions through that first Test. We got him cheaply in the first innings and he adapted to that and played a fantastic innings, so full credit to him. He is one of those new crop of fearless young cricketers around the world.”