Mitchell Starc, on Sunday (April 21), came up with another poor performance with the ball although Kolkata Knight Riders managed to register a crucial one-run win over Royal Challengers Bengaluru at the Eden Gardens to get back to winning ways.
The Australia pacer endured a tough outing against RCB as he conceded 55 runs in his three overs. In his first over that was the second over of the innings, the left-arm pacer conceded 15 runs. When he came to bowl the final over of the powerplay, Will Jacks took him to the cleaners and hit him for 22 runs including three sixes.
Mitchell Starc did not get the ball to bowl another over until the final over. With RCB needing 21 runs with only two wickets in hand, not many were expecting the Australia star to face any difficulty in bowling KKR to a crucial win. However, he ended up conceding three sixes in his first four deliveries.
Karn Sharma hit the fast-bowler for 18 runs to bring down the equation to just three runs from the last two balls. On the fifth ball of the over, Starc managed to redeem himself by taking a sharp catch in his follow-through to dismiss Sharma. On the final ball, Lockie Ferguson was run out while completing a second run.
Harshit Rana defends Mitchell Starc:
Speaking at the end of the game, Mitchell Starc’s KKR teammate Harshit Rana defended him and backed him to bounce back. The right-arm pacer stated that the team is not at all worried about Starc’s performances and said that he would be winning games for KKR in the coming days.
“It’s his own plan. Every bowler takes the field with a plan. He is a top bowler and someday, he will win us games. 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 Mitchell Starc’s services in the last auction by paying a whopping ₹24.75 crore. It made Starc the costliest player in the history of the IPL. However, the left-arm pacer is yet to justify the huge price tag in IPL 2024.
Not only has he struggled to take runs but has also struggled to maintain a good economy-rate. He has failed to pick up a wicket in four of the seven games so far. Overall, he has picked up six wickets in seven games while having an economy-rate of 11.48.