Kolkata Knight Riders produced an impressive all-round performance to end Mumbai Indians' hopes to secure playoff qualification in the IPL 2024 on Friday. Venkatesh Iyer and Mitchell Starc emerged as heroes to help Kolkata further strengthen their second position in the points table with a 24-run win at Wankhede Stadium.
Venkatesh Iyer claimed the Player of the Match award for his 70 runs off 52 balls innings but Starc stole the limelight with his late match-winning spell. The Australian pacer gave KKR a breakthrough with Ishan Kishan's early wicket and then picked three wickets in the penultimate over to bowl out Mumbai on just 145.
Starc's four wickets for 33 figures significantly boosted his concerning numbers in the IPL 2024. Arriving at Eden Gardens with a record price stage of INR 24.75 crore, Starc managed to pick only two wickets in his first four innings but has made a stunning comeback with nine wickets in his last five innings.
While answering media questions in the post-match presser, the 34-year-old left-arm pacer admitted that he wanted to impress from the beginning of the tournament but pointed out that he is not the only bowler struggling in the IPL.
"As T20 cricket doesn't always go the way you want it to go, and of course, I wanted to go a bit better at the start," Mitchell Starc said after Kolkata's win over Mumbai on Friday. "But I am not the only bowler going for runs. It is what it is. The fact that we sit second [on the points table] and are building towards the more important games at the back end and are playing some good cricket, hopefully, I can be a part of it too."
Starc also shared his thoughts on the impact substitute rule and how it is not doing any favour to bowlers. Teams have already managed to post 250-plus totals on a record eight times this season and bowlers are getting criticized for their expensive spells.
"The Impact Player rule changes things a fair bit. Everyone gets to bat a lot deeper having a batting and a bowling XI. There's a lot made of that rule throughout the tournament and there's been a lot of high scores, which is the nature of the wickets and the grounds we play on here. When you have batters and batting allrounders come in at Nos. 8 or 9, it's a long batting line-up," Starc added.
Starc has now picked 11 wickets in nine innings at an economy rate of 11.40 in the tournament and will next seen in action against Lucknow Super Ginats at Ekana Cricket Stadium on May 5.
