Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) continued their winning run in IPL 2024 as they thrashed the mighty Royal Challengers Bengaluru. Despite winning two matches on the bounce, the talking point for KKR has been the form of Mitchell Starc who has looked in all sorts of trouble. Mitchell Starc conceded 47 runs in his 4 over spell and was wicketless.
We should not forget that Mitchell Starc was bought for a whooping 24.75 Crores as there was a tussle between Gujarat Titans (GT) and KKR for him. It won’t be wrong to say that Starc is trying a bit too hard to contain the batters and while doing that his line & length have been quite predictable as a result against SRH, he was whacked by Heinrich Klaasen and against RCB, he was thrashed by Virat Kohli.
KKR’s next challenge is against the dangerous Delhi Capitals (DC) on 3rd April at Vishakhapatnam. It will be interesting to see whether KKR change their combination as there are high chances that the spinner Suyash Sharma may replace Anukul Roy for the contest as Suyash has got deceptive variations.
Mitchell Starc is a left hand fast bowler who can bowl at 145+ KMPH- Steve Smith
Steve Smith was having an interaction with Star Sports. Steve Smith pointed out that the lightning speedster Mitchell Starc tried to wobble the ball across the right handed batter against RCB. Steve Smith stated that Mitchell Starc should try to get the ball inside the right handed batter rather than trying different variations.
“I think today (against Royal Challengers Bengaluru) he was looking to wobble the ball across the right-handed batter, which is a good option, but I feel like he’s got to swing it back down the line. He is a left-hand fast bowler who can bowl at 145+ KMPH. There’s nothing like a ball swinging back into a right-handed batsman. It’s one of the hardest balls to face. So I’d like to see that first and use that one as a variation to trying to nick off from them,” said Steve Smith.
Mitchell Starc is at his best when he is swinging the ball in- Irfan Pathan
Irfan Pathan too was having an interaction with Star Sports. Irfan Pathan said that the day Mitchell Starc gets that inswing then he will be a bowler to watch out in the marquee IPL 2024 tournament. Irfan Pathan was quite surprised that Starc didn’t bowl inswing deliveries in the first 2 matches.
“Starc is at his best when he is swinging the ball in. When that looping swing starts to the right-hand batter, it can be lethal. And I haven’t seen that in the last two games. The head could just be staying on the ball a bit more, or it could just be the pitches, or it could just be getting used to Indian conditions. Once he starts getting that inswing, he will be a bowler to watch out for throughout the IPL,” said Irfan Pathan.