Mitchell Starc was riding the highest high of his cricket career, winning the World Cup for Australia at home with most wickets in the tournament. Then his knee gave in and he was out for about a week and a half. But ever since he has joined the Royal Challengers Bangalore in Pepsi IPL 2015, Starc has resumed from where he left at the MCG.

In six matches the Aussie left-arm pacer has picked up 11 wickets including three three-wicket hauls. The last of it came against Chennai Super Kings on a wicket that is not known to be too kind to the fast bowlers. His figures of 3 for 24 included a wicket-maiden in which he got rid of Dwayne Smith, and it was the very first over of the match.

Although led by Starc, RCB restricted CSK to 148 for 9, the batting collapsed in the run-chase and handed the hosts a 24-run win.

After the match Starc spoke to iplt20.com about his leadership role in the RCB this season, the simplicity of his T20 bowling plans and revisited his battle with Brendon McCullum.

You had a bit of break after the successful World Cup campaign but you haven’t lost any of your magic.

I was only out for nine days, so it wasn’t much of a break. I was just getting my knee right. It is great to come over here and contribute to RCB. Unfortunately we didn’t get over the line today but I have enjoyed bowling here.

You obviously haven’t had any difficulty in adjusting to the Indian wickets after bowling in Australia all summer.

It is Twenty20 cricket and in this format you cannot over-think. I try to keep my plans simple because you don’t need to complicate things when you have only got 24 balls to bowl. I try to make the minor adjustments, if need be on the day, but overall I try to keep it the same and execute those 24 balls.

You have turned the fortunes of RCB’s bowling attack around since you have joined them. The team sure depends on you a lot.

I will not say they depend overly on me but I like to try and lead the attack in my own way. It is quite a young bowling unit. I worked with Allan Donald in the team last season and this year we have pretty much the same attack, plus one or two fast bowlers. We try to work together and talk about our plans before each game. I try to bring in some of my experience and lead the boys along the way.

In the Australian team you have seniors like Mitchell Johnson and Shane Watson around. Here you are the leader of the attack. Are you growing in that role?

Yes, it is very different to the role I play with Australia. I relish the leadership role and I am trying to grow in it. Off the field I try to share whatever I know with these boys, and on it I mostly bowl upfront and set the pace for our bowling before coming in the end to finish things off. Here it is very important that I am absolutely confident about my plans and also create that confidence around the group.

Did you enjoy revisiting your battle with Brendon McCullum?

I did. It was my first game against CSK since I joined the team this season. I think the World Cup final counts for a few extra but he has got the stick on me in the IPL so far.

Talk about your maiden-wicket over and how you set Smith up.

It wasn’t about setting him up as such. I have played against him a bit at the international level and I know a bit about him. I just tried to force him to play a bad shot. I was fortunate to have a few dot balls and build that pressure. The last ball I got one to come back to him and that was it.

You opened the bowling in the 4 pm Chennai heat today. How big a factor does the heat play in a T20 game?

It was a lot warmer here than it is in Bangalore. We had it in mind that we shouldn’t allow the heat to get to us, which is very difficult to do when it is so fierce. It does play its part and saps you off energy. But look, they won the toss and they had the right to do whatever they wanted.