Australian pacer Mitchell Starc is set to return to the Indian Premier League (IPL) after a long gap of nine years. Starc, who last played in the cash-rich T20 league in 2015 for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), will be plying his trade for the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) after the two-time champions picked him for INR 24.75 crore ahead of the 2024 edition of the IPL.
For years Starc has prioritised international cricket and used the IPL window to rest and recuperate ahead of the big international season whether it was Ashes or the World Cup in the last few years. This time too, there's a T20 World Cup scheduled in June in the Caribbean and the United States and Starc registered for the IPL auction after so many years to keep his T20 game in shape and be raring to go for the marquee tournament for Australia.
Ahead of the 2024 edition of the IPL, Starc expressed his excitement to be back in the Indian T20 league and playing for KKR for whom he was supposed to play in 2018. "It's been 8 years, I think. Back to KKR where I was supposed to be in 2018. So I'll be back there for the chance to pull on the gold and purple. I guess my memories are a few and far between of back in 2014 and 2015 with Bangalore but yeah, really excited to get stuck in," Starc said speaking on cricket.com.au about returning to IPL.
"Obviously, a new group of players. A bunch of guys I certainly haven't met or been able to work with before," Starc further added. "A couple of guys that I've, international guys that I've played against and come across. Yeah, it's gonna be exciting. It's definitely a new challenge. But yeah, it'll be exciting. It's always a bit of a circus when it is the best T20 league in the world. So, yeah I look forward to it."
Starc is set to lead KKR's bowling attack with the likes of Harshit Rana, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Suyash Sharma to share the duties. KKR open their campaign against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) at Eden Gardens on Saturday, March 23.
