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The Australian cricketer, Mitchell Starc, is set to make his long-awaited return to the Indian Premier League (IPL) after a nine-year-long sabbatical from the tournament. Kolkata Knight Riders paid a whopping sum of ₹24.75 crore, the highest for any player in the auction history, to secure the services of Mitchell Starc for the IPL 2024 season.
During his short career in the IPL, Mitchell Starc was an integral part of Royal Challengers Bangalore in back-to-back seasons in 2014-15. In his 27 matches for the RCB, the left-arm fast bowler picked up 34 wickets at an impressive economy of 7.17 with four three-wicket hauls and one four-wicket haul, playing a key role in his team reaching the playoffs of the 2015 edition of the IPL.
Following the year 2015, Mitchell Starc focused on playing the Test format for Australia for the majority of his prime cricketing years, opting out of securing big deals in the IPL most times. In 2018, the Australian was signed by the KKR for ₹9.40 crore, but he didn’t play for them during the season because of an injury.
Now that Kolkata Knight Riders have brought Mitchell Starc to their squad for the IPL 2024 season, they will be expecting him to deliver consistent performances, not just with the ball, but with the bat too. While the former T20 World Cup winner is not known to be one of the most accurate fast bowlers in the world, he boasts an incredible ability to bowl a lethal yorker to dismiss any batter at any time.
If Mitchell Starc could play all 14 league stage matches of the IPL 2024 season for Kolkata Knight Riders, he could pick up around 16-20 wickets, which could put his team in a good position to reach the playoffs. Also, the 34-year-old will be fulfilling the role of scoring quick runs at lower down the order for KKR, an added dimension to his game, which must have persuaded the franchise to pay big sums of money to sign him for this IPL.
