Under-fire for his poor performances recently, Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc received support from his former IPL teammate Virat Kohli after India won their first ever Test series in Australia.

Under-fire for his poor performances recently, Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc received support from his former IPL teammate Virat Kohli after India won their first ever Test series in Australia.

Legendary legspinner Shane Warne has been very vocal in his criticism of Starc, prompting current Australian skipper Tim Paine to express his bemusement. Warne had pulled up Starc about his bowling control and body language.

Starc finished the four match Test series with 13 wickets in seven innings at an average of 34.53.

Kohli, though, said Starc should be given the right kind of support or else Australia might ‘lose’ him.

"He is a very skillful bowler," Kohli said. "He has got the right mindset. He has been your No.1 bowler for years now. I am a little surprised with the magnitude of the criticism that has come to him.

"If he is your best bowler, you give him space to work things out and not mount more pressure on him. Because you don’t want to lose a guy like that who is so skilled and wins games."

On Friday, after Australia had bowled 167.2 overs, Paine defended Starc and said that the pacer might be out of form but was trying his best.

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

"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.

"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."

The left-armer along with Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins are being rested for the upcoming ODI series against India so that they are fresh for the two Tests against Sri Lanka which begins in Brisbane on January 24.

Kohli ran the rule over Australia's bowling attack in the series, saying the benign wickets and his side's batters contributed to their rough campaign.

"I wouldn’t say they bowled badly, I would look at it as we have batted well," Kohli said.

"They have always bowled in areas which are challenging to you as a batsman.

"I mean Cummins bowled a spell to me and (Cheteshwar) Pujara, about nine overs in Adelaide, we hardly got eight runs in that spell. So we just played it out well. I think their bowling has been absolutely fine from where I see it.

"As a batting unit we have also struggled when we have not put runs on the board so as good as your bowlers are, if you don’t put runs on the board, you can’t do anything. And then the pressure mounts."