Of the few things that have gone wrong for the Kolkata Knight Riders in their near perfect IPL 2024 season so far, Mitchell Starc’s initiation as a KKR bowler seems to have been one of them.
In the four games he’s played so far, Starc has conceded 154 runs and nabbed just the two wickets. This, after having been bought for a mind-numbing 24.75 Cr INR at the auction last December. KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir however, believes the sample size of four games isn’t enough to judge their pace spearhead.
“It (his poor stats) doesn’t matter, T20 cricket is all about bowlers getting smashed. We’ve got three wins out of four.” Ahead of their match against Lucknow Super Giants here, Gambhir added, “In a team sport, it’s the wins that matter. We have got three wins out of four. Why should I not be happy with anyone’s performance? See, people have bad and good days, ultimately, it’s the team that needs to win,” Gambhir said in a press conference ahead of KKR’s game against Lucknow at Eden Gardens on Sunday.
𝙒𝙚𝙡𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙩𝙤 𝙆𝙆𝙍 💜
Venky Mysore’s text message to Mitchell Starc after that RECORD bid 💰
The @KKRiders CEO is overjoyed to celebrate the historic buy with none other than Gautam Gambhir 🤗#IPLAuction | #IPL pic.twitter.com/gY5VZHsXuM
— IndianPremierLeague (@IPL) December 19, 2023
“Four games doesn’t make him a bad bowler. And four good games doesn’t make him a brilliant bowler either. So I know that what impact he can create and what impact he will create in the competition,” Gambhir added.
Furthermore, Gambhir believes that Starc has had to bowl “tough overs” and that the marquee buy will make the impact that’s expected of him.
IPL 2024 marks Starc’s first season back in IPL since 2015, when he played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore and snapped 20 wickets from 13 appearances.
KKR though, haven’t faced the brunt of Starc’s failures with the ball and have won three of their four games so far and sit second in the points table, below Rajasthan Royals.
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