Mitchell Starc, on Sunday (April 21), had another poor performance with the ball, although Kolkata Knight Riders managed to register a crucial one-run win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru at Eden Gardens to get back to winning ways.
The Australian pacer endured a tough outing against RCB as he conceded 55 runs in his three overs. In his first over, which was the second over of the innings, the left-arm pacer conceded 15 runs. When he came to bowl the last over of the powerplay, Will Jacks took him to the cleaners and hit him for 22 runs, including three sixes.
Mitchell Starc didn’t get another pitch off the ball until the final finish. With RCB needing 21 runs with just two wickets in hand, not many expected the Aussie star to face any difficulty in bowling KKR to a crucial victory. However, he ended up hitting three sixes in his first four deliveries.
Karn Sharma hit the fast bowler for 18 runs to reduce the equation to just three runs off the last two balls. On the fifth ball of the over, Starc managed to redeem himself by taking a strong catch in his follow-through to dismiss Sharma. On the last ball, Lockie Ferguson was run out while completing a second run.
Harshit Rana defends Mitchell Starc:
Speaking at the end of the game, Harshit Rana, Mitchell Starc’s KKR teammate, defended him and backed him to bounce back. The right-hander stated that the team is not at all worried about Starc’s performance and stated that in the coming days he will win matches for KKR.
“It’s his own plan. Every player goes out on the field with a plan. He is a top player and one day he will win games for us. We are not worried about him. We have full faith in him.” Rana said in the post-match press conference.
Mitchell Starc in IPL 2024:
KKR secured the services of Mitchell Starc in the last auction by paying a whopping Rs 24.75 crore. It made Starc the most expensive player in IPL history. However, the left-arm pacer is yet to justify the huge price tag in IPL 2024.
Not only has he had trouble making runs, he has also had trouble maintaining a good economy rate. He has failed to get a wicket in four of the seven matches so far. Overall, he has taken six wickets in seven games with an economy rate of 11.48.