Kolkata Knight Riders pacer Mitchell Starc was bought for Rs. 24.75 crore in the IPL 2024 auction
Kolkata Knight Riders fast bowler Mitchell Starc, who was bought for Rs 24.75 crore in the auction on Saturday, had to face severe criticism against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
In his quota of 4 overs, Starc gave away 53 runs but failed to take a single wicket. KKR’s young star, in comparison, Harshit Rana took his 3 wickets for 33 runs in a spell of 4 overs.
Only Varun Chakravarthy, who scored 55 runs for 1 wicket in 4 overs, faced major criticism in the match from Starc. Fell. Australia’s fast bowler, considered one of the best players in the world, was expected to win the match but his shameful performance with the ball sparked memes on social media.
To bowl the 19th over, KKR captain Shreyas Iyer said, 26 runs were given away by Mitchell Starc, Shahbaz Ahmed, and Heinrich Klaasen clean bowled the left-arm fast bowler. Fans did not hesitate to mercilessly troll Starc and questioned the ‘world record fee’ of Rs 24.5 crore paid by the franchise for him. Here are some reactions.
KKR had Andre Russell to thank for their 4-run win in the match despite Starc putting in a demoralizing performance with the ball.
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“My stomach started churning right from the 17th over. It felt like anything could happen, they needed 13 runs in the last over and we did not have the most experienced bowler.
But I had confidence in him, and I told him to support himself and it didn’t matter what happened. He was a little nervous coming in, and I told him I just looked him in the eyes and said, ‘Your moment is this, buddy.’
“It doesn’t matter what happens in the game. It was good to see Andre performing with the ball and Sunny (Narine) was also brilliant with the ball as well. It’s great to have them around. When you start with a win, it always motivates you.
“This game also gives us a lot to learn, we will learn a lot from it on the field. I believe fielding is one area where we need to improve. There was so much noise there that it was difficult to give depth signals to other players,” he said.
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Interestingly, on the same day, Cummins had previously created the record by surpassing Starc. Big performances were expected from Starc and he got the big money from KKR, who needed it after the release of Lockie Ferguson and the signing of Pat Cummins as a genuine fast bowler.
The bidding war continued for a long time at Rs 9.60 crore with both the teams withdrawing. Subsequently, Gujarat Titans and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) became desperate to acquire the Australian speedster.
When Knight Riders bid Rs 22.75 crore, Starc overtook Cummins as the most expensive player. , the Titans finally gave up.
Before Starc, Knight Riders had bought Bharat and left-arm fast bowler wicketkeeper KS Chetan Sakariya.
Recently, in the World Cup 2023, Starc performed brilliantly after taking 16 wickets at an economy rate of 6.06. The fast bowler played for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in 2014 and 2015 and took 34 wickets in 27 matches.