Reverse swing will be crucial against India: Starc

Left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc feels that Australians can take a lot of encouragement from the performance of the England team against India and especially James Anderson's effective use of the old ball, ahead of their four-match series that starts in Chennai on Friday.

"Yeah sure, but they are still a dangerous line-up and they are playing at home," 23-year-old Starc said when asked about whether they have taken a cue from India's series loss against Alastair Cook's men.

"They will know the conditions a lot better than we will. I think we will a take a lot out of that India-England series. We have watched a lot of footage and how England went about their job against the Indian line-up. I enjoyed how James Anderson & Co used the reverse swing and that's something that we are going to have to do," said Starc, who has taken 28 wickets in seven Tests so far.

The youngster feels that since Indian batsmen play spin well and Australia's strength is their pace attack, they should "try to maximise" their strengths.

"We need to take early wickets, bowl natural swing at the top. But I think reverse swing bowling will be crucial along with spin. We need to bowl well in tandem and bowl in good partnerships.

"We can look to bowl cross seam or with the rough outside up. We have got to what works so that we can get that reverse swing going. India is a place where there is not going to be much assistance for any of the fast bowlers. There will be reverse swing happening."

Starc has earlier been to Chennai with the New South Wales squad for the Champions League T20 and hopes that the experience of spending time in the city will help him during the Test.

"Well, I came to India during the Champions League. During that Champions League tour, I obviously spent a lot of time in Chennai, so it's good to be back here. It will be a great experience for Patty (Pattinson) and myself."