Mitchell Starc broke silence on getting released by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) ahead of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 mega auction. The left-arm pacer was the most expensive acquisition in IPL history last year with an amount of INR 24.75 crore.
The defending champions sought to utilize their full quota of six players by retaining Rinku Singh, Varun Chakaravarthy, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh.
In first two games of IPL 2024, Starc went on to concede 100 runs in eight overs and returned wicketless. However, he justified his high price tag as the tournament progressed.
In Qualifier 1, Mitchell Starc finished with figures of 3/34 off four overs against Sunrisers Hyderabad. In the final, he bagged 2/14 off three overs, with the highlight being a peach of delivery to clean bowl Sunrisers’ opener Abhishek Sharma.
Starc ended the tournament with 17 scalps in 14 games, with best figures of 4/33. Despite being an impressive performer for the side, KKR didn’t choose to retain Starc.
“I still haven’t heard from them,” Starc revealed to The Daily Telegraph.
“It is what it is, that’s franchise cricket, so all barring the Hyderabad boys [Pat Cummins and Travis Head], will be in the auction,” he added.
Along with Starc, skipper Shreyas Iyer, Phil Salt and Venkatesh Iyer could not be retained by the KKR side. However, a few of them might find interest from the franchise in the mega auction.
Mitchell Starc earns Player of the Match award in AUS vs PAK 1st ODI
The left-arm pacer led the Australian attack in the first ODI fixture against Pakistan in Melbourne Cricket Ground. In his only second over, Mitchell Starc breached the defense of Saim Ayub (1). Soon, he got rid of Abdullah Shafique (12) by making him holed out to keeper Josh Inglis.
In the end, Starc took an important wicket of Shaheen Afridi (24), who was striking it well and bailing out Pakistan after a disappointing start. The Men in Green went on to post a below-par total of 203, as Starc finished with figures of 3/33.
Thereafter, Australia were also off to a bad start, losing both openers in quick succession. However, Steve Smith (44) and Josh Inglis (49) stitched an important 85-run stand to put the team in good stead. Their dismissals caused a batting collapse, Australia were reeling at 155/7.
Nevertheless, skipper Pat Cummins (32*) and Mitchell Starc (2*) remained unbeaten as the hosts chased down the score under 34 overs to win the game by two wickets. Both sides will meet in the second ODI fixture on Friday (November 8) in Adelaide.
