Kolkata Knight Riders’ Mitchell Starc bowls during the match against Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League 2024, at Eden Gardens in Kolkata on April 14, 2024.
| Photo Credit: ANI
Australian speedster Mitchell Starc is not bothered about the criticism directed at him for not living up to his high IPL price tag but on Sunday admitted that his lack of T20 experience could be the reason for taking longer time to find his rhythm.
Starc, the IPL’s highest buy at a whopping ₹24.75 crore, came up with his best show this season, claiming 3/28, including two wickets in the final over, that helped KKR restrict Lucknow Super Giants to a below par 161 for 7. KKR then chased down the target in 15.4 overs with eight wickets intact.
Prior to Sunday, Starc took just two wickets in four matches with an average of 77 and leaked 11 runs per over as he drew widespread criticism.
“I don’t read anything so that doesn’t bother me,” Starc said after KKR’s win at the Eden Gardens here.
“I haven’t played a lot of T20 cricket in the last couple of years, so it’s probably taken me a little bit longer than I would have liked to get back into the rhythm of things and make a better impact. So today was nice in that regard.” Managing workload in T20 cricket and adjusting to the rigours of the IPL is not tough for Test cricketers, said Starc.
“I’m 34, so I’m pretty good with my workloads. I’ve been doing this a long time, so that’s fine.
“It’s T20 cricket. For the guys that play a lot of Test cricket, this is certainly a lot easier physically. It’s probably more getting used to the tactical side of it.”
He said in T20 cricket, games come around so quickly that players can’t really think about what has happened.
“We play again on Tuesday, and I think that’s a feature of T20 cricket, whether you have a good day or bad day. You quickly focus on the next game.
“So far, we’ve started the season quite well as a group, and now we move on to Tuesday.
“We kept them (LSG) under par with the way we bowled, and that showed through with the way that our batters went out there and did it pretty clinically in the end. So a pretty solid day for KKR,” he added.