“He is a very skilful bowler. He has got the right mindset. He has been your No.1 bowler for years now,” Kohli was quoted as saying in ‘cricket.com.au’.
“I am a little surprised with the magnitude of the criticism that has come to him,” said the India skipper, who has played with Starc at Royal Challengers Bangalore in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
Kohli said Australia might lose Starc if he is not supported.
“If he is your best bowler, you give him space to work things out and not mount more pressure on him,” he said.
“Because you don’t want to lose a guy like that who is so skilled and wins games.”
India on Monday claimed its first Test series win on Australian soil. The success after defeats against South Africa and England.
With Australia set to face England in the Ashes, Kohli said Australia need to leave their egos behind as patience will be the key against the Duke Ball.
“If you go out there with an ego, you might as well not go at all,” Kohli said.
“Because that Dukes ball, it buries egos pretty quickly. You have to curb yourself down and do the hard yards. Grind it out the whole day. You have to be patient as a batsman.
“There’s lot of time in Test cricket. But sometimes we are so nervous as batsmen, we don’t quite realise it.”
Talking from his experience of playing in English conditions, he said: “You just want to get away quickly but in England you’re not allowed to do that.
“So, you have to buy your time. And you have to earn the right to score runs eventually. But you have to get into a position where you should not even look at the scoreboard to see the number of balls.
“It’s inconsequential; patience is the only thing works there and putting runs on the board again is the most important thing to win Test matches
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