Follow UsAfter being purchased for INR 24.75 crore at the IPL 2024 auction, a tournament record back then, Mitchell Starc did not justify his price tag in the group stages even though Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were dominant. He took 12 wickets in the group stages and was mighty expensive, going at 11.4 runs per over. He showed sparks of his greatness but that was about it. More often than not, KKR were winning despite him and not because of him.
Yet come the knockouts, Starc showed precisely why he’s arguably the clutchest player in the sport’s history.
Sunrisers Hyderabad were unstoppable with the bat all season, and they entered the playoffs with their openers Abhishek Sharma and Travis Head having mauled every single opponent. The expectation heading into the playoffs was that the duo would tear into the KKR bowling line-up as well.
Enter Starc.
In Qualifier 1 in Ahmedabad, the left-armer CASTLED Head on the very second ball of the match to set the tone for the game. He removed both Nitish Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed in the powerplay as well, and the game was done by the powerplay, with SRH being 45 or 4.
Come the final, Starc astonishingly ran through SRH again. This time around, he bowled one of the balls of the century to castle Abhishek on the fifth ball of the match. SRH were rattled by that blow, and KKR eased to victory.
KKR weren’t able to retain Starc and he moved to Delhi Capitals (DC) at the mega auction. New team, new season, but none of it mattered to the 35-year-old, who OWNED SRH yet again, this time in DC colours in his side’s second game of the season.
Starc took the new ball this time as well, and he and DC ended up getting a headstart thanks to a brainfade from Abhishek Sharma, who ended up getting run out in the very first over. 0/11 read Starc’s figures after the first over but the real fun began from his second over.
On the first ball of his second over, the left-armer sent Ishan Kishan, the centurion from SRH’s first game, packing. It was a short-ish wide delivery but Kishan ended up hitting it straight to Tristan Stubbs at third-man. Three balls later, the 35-year-old struck a body blow by dismissing the only ‘anchor’ in SRH’s team, Nitish Kumar Reddy. Reddy went for a wild heave across the line to utilise the powerplay, but Starc smartly took the pace off the ball, and the batter ended up skying it. It was game over for Reddy, and SRH were 25/3 in the blink of an eye.
Having already picked up two wickets, skipper Axar Patel decided to give Starc a third over, and the Aussie spearhead ended up saving the best for his last (over). Starc struck the most important blow of the entire game, ONCE AGAIN getting rid of his bunny Head. This was banged into the surface aggressively, and the left-hander ended up gloving it straight to the wicketkeeper. Just like that, SRH were reduced to 37/4, and just like that, Starc ended up getting Head for the sixth time in 34 balls.
It looks like SRH will never stop having nightmares about Starc.