Mitchell Starc

‘Mumbai Indians ki kahani khatam’: What went wrong for five-time IPL champions | Cricket News

Danijones8 months ago05 mins

Five-time champions Mumbai Indians are all but out of the race to IPL 2024 playoffs. Going through one of their worst seasons in IPL history, Hardik Pandya & Co. faced their eighth defeat in 11 matches, losing to Kolkata Knight Riders by 24 runs on their home ground, Wankhede Stadium, on Friday.IPL STANDINGS: Points Table | Orange Cap | Purple Cap The defeat, which was MI’s first against KKR at the Wankhede in 12 years, once again brought Hardik ‘s captaincy in focus. “This was such a good team on paper but was not managed well. The questions that were being raised about Hardik Pandya’s captaincy were absolutely correct,” said former India pacer Irfan Pathan, analysing the game in a video on social media. KKR put up 169 on the board, thanks to a half-century by Venkatesh Iyer (70 off 52 balls) and an equally crucial 31-ball 42 by Manish Pandey, despite MI having the visitors on the ropes at 57/5 in just the seventh over.WATCH VIDEO “When you had KKR’s five wickets for just 57 runs, there was no need to give Naman Dhir three overs in a row. You should have got your main bowlers on, but you had your sixth bowler deliver three overs. That allowed Venkatesh Iyer and Manish Pandey to put a partnership together….Where you could have bowled KKR out for 150, they went on to make 170, and that turned out to be the difference,” added Pathan, raising questions on captain Hardik’s decisions on the field. Mitchell Starc, the most expensive player in IPL history, finally did justice to his price tag with match-winning figures of 4/33 as Mumbai folded up for 145 in 18.5 overs despite Suryakumar Yadav’s 35-ball 56. Varun Chakravarthy, Sunil Narine and Andre Russell took two wickets each. “KKR now looks like a ‘khatarnak’ (dangerous) team after Mitchell Starc’s return to form. They had just one weak link in fast bowling, which was Mitchell Starc’s bowling. The way he bowled to Tim David must be appreciated,” analysed Irfan.The win took KKR to No. 2 on the points table with seven wins in 10 matches. Coming back to MI captaincy, which had changed hands from Rohit Sharma to Hardik before the start of this season, Irfan said MI is not playing as a unit under Hardik’s captaincy. “In cricket, captaincy has a huge effect and it’s very important to manage, which did not happen. Mumbai Indians isn’t looking like a team that is playing as a unit, and this aspect needs to be looked at going forward for Mumbai Indians. Players need to respect the captain and also accept him appreciably, this is very important. That, I think, could not be seen on the field,” the former cricketer cum commentator said. “Whatever the reason is, they have to think about it and improve.”

Why Mitchell Starc is not in KKR’s XI against PBKS? Shreyas Iyer reveals reason behind out-of-form pacer’s exclusion | Cricket

Danijones8 months ago04 mins

Kolkata Knight Riders’ fast bowler Mitchell Starc was not a part of the side’s XI as it took on the Punjab Kings on Friday. Starc, the most expensive player in the league with a price tag of INR 24.75 crore, hasn’t had the desired performances in the season so far. In his first seven matches in the league, the left-arm pacer took six wickets but conceded at an alarming rate of 11.48. Kolkata Knight Riders’ Mitchell Starc bowls during the Indian Premier League (IPL) Twenty20 cricket match (AFP) In his previous match against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru, Starc was smashed for three sixes by Karn Sharma in the final over as the side was almost on the verge of a thrilling comeback win in Kolkata. However, Starc eventually removed the batter to secure a one-run win for the Knight Riders. HT launches Crick-it, a one stop destination to catch Cricket, anytime, anywhere. Explore now! On Friday, KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer confirmed that Starc wasn’t part of the XI, but the pacer’s poor form wasn’t the reason for his exclusion. Iyer revealed that Starc endured a cut on his finger, leading to his removal from the playing side. “Starcy got a cut on his finger in the last game, Dushmantha Chameera replaces him,” Iyer said during the toss. Starc made a return to the IPL for the first time since 2015 this year. This year’s IPL is key to many Indian and international stars due to the T20 World Cup, which succeeds almost immediately after the season. Starc, one of the regulars for Australia across all formats, would be aiming to make a quick return from injury and dish out impressive performances for the Knight Riders as the second half of the group stage continues. PBKS win toss Punjab Kings’ stand-in captain, Sam Curran, won the toss at the iconic Eden Gardens in Kolkata and opted to bowl. Curran has been leading the side in the past few matches in the absence of opener Shikhar Dhawan, who is currently nursing an injury. PBKS had one change in their XI with Jonny Bairstow replacing fellow countryman Liam Livingstone.

IPL-17 | Starc unfazed by criticism, says lack of T20 experience could be reason for initial struggle

Danijones8 months ago04 mins

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.

Lucknow Super Giants create an unwanted first in eight-wicket mauling by Kolkata Knight Riders | Cricket News

Danijones8 months ago03 mins

NEW DELHI: Opening batter Phil Salt smashed a fiery unbeaten 47-ball 89 after pacer Mitchell Starc‘s superb spell as Kolkata Knight Riders on Sunday began their five-match home stretch with a lop-sided eight-wicket win over Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Gardens.After an all-round bowling display restricted Lucknow to a below-par 161 for 7, the Kolkata batters made light work of the chase, accomplishing the target with 26 balls to spare.The defeat for KL Rahul’s Lucknow turned out to be the first-ever against Kolkata in the IPL.Prior to the heavy defeat on Sunday, Lucknow had met Kolkata thrice in the IPL and had a 100 percent record against the Men in Purple.On all the other three past occasions, Lucknow won the game batting first.As KKR registered their first-ever win over LSG in four matches, they also became the second team after Delhi Capitals this season to chase down a 160-plus total against LSG.Prior to the defeats against DC and KKR, LSG had won each of the 13 IPL matches while defending a 160-plus total.After the defeat, skipper KL Rahul admitted that the defeat was a proper hammering and will be tough to digest for the team. “One of those days, it was a proper hammering. Games like these are tough to digest and we have seen in IPL and every team goes through that. We will try and work out what went wrong and come back better. Not panicking (about back-to-back losses), need to figure out where we went wrong and the last couple of games we haven’t been able to get past 160 and that’s something we want to see and be better at it,” Rahul said after the defeat.With three defeats and an equal number of wins in six games, Lucknow currently sit at the sixth spot on the points table.KKR, on the other hand have 4 wins in 5 matches and are at second spot.

Gautam Gambhir: KKR vs LSG: Gautam Gambhir goes from planning Lucknow Super Giants’ rise to plotting their doom | Cricket News

Danijones8 months ago03 mins

KOLKATA: Gautam Gambhir finds himself in a situation that makes him grin. He had mentored Lucknow Super Giants till last season with a fair amount of success, a period which included three wins over Kolkata Knight Riders. On Sunday, he will be there in the KKR dugout, hoping to mentor the purple brigade to their first win over LSG.IPL 2024: POINTS TABLE | ORANGE CAP | PURPLE CAPIs the boot on the other foot now? “Just a new day,” Gambhir quipped on match eve.”I might know them well, but they know me pretty well too. In fact everyone knows each other quite well and plans accordingly. It doesn’t make a difference (that I am on the other side now). I had planned for KKR while I had been with LSG and now I am planning on behalf of KKR. It’s not as if I’m going to plan something different for them. Eventually, the team that plays better wins, and not the team that plans better.” Gambhir perhaps knows KKR better than anyone else, having led the team to two IPL titles. There are players like Sunil Narine, whom Gambhir had groomed during his stint at KKR and who are flourishing now. “He (Narine) was very happy to see me back. We have spent so much time together. Sometimes relationships are more about the emotion which you carry for each other than the time spent. Happy to see him doing well.”Gambhir remains as aggressive as ever and will not count Mayank Yadav’s absence as a relief. “We would always want our opponents to play with their best team,” he said. Neither is he worried that Mitchell Starc might buckle under pressure. “I know what impact he can have,” he said.

‘It’s all about…’: KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir backs under-fire pacer Mitchell Starc | Cricket News

Danijones8 months ago06 mins

NEW DELHI: Gautam Gambhir, the mentor of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), came to the defence of Mitchell Starc, emphasising that the Australian pacer’s recent struggles in the IPL do not define his abilities as a bowler. Despite Starc’s underwhelming performance, Gambhir highlighted the importance of team success over individual brilliance.Starc, who was acquired by KKR for a significant amount of Rs 24.75 crore, has faced criticism for his lackluster returns in the tournament.With just two wickets to his name at an average of 77 and an economy rate of 11 runs per over across four matches, Starc’s form has been far from ideal.However, Gambhir refrained from labeling Starc as a “bad bowler,” acknowledging that cricket is a team sport where individual performances often fluctuate.Instead, he emphasized the collective effort required for the team’s success, suggesting that Starc’s contribution, while not meeting expectations statistically, may still have positive implications within the team dynamic.IPL: POINTS TABLE | ORANGE CAP | PURPLE CAP“It (his poor stats) doesn’t matter, T20 cricket is all about bowlers getting smashed. We’ve got three wins out of four,” Gambhir said.Ahead of their match against LSG in Kolkata, Gambhir added, “In a team sport, it’s the wins that matter. We have got three wins out of four. Why should I not be happy with anyone’s performance? See, people have bad and good days, ultimately, it’s the team that needs to win.“And we’ve got decent results in the first four games of the competition. And we all know how big a threat Mitchell Starc is. Four games doesn’t make him a bad bowler.“And four good games doesn’t make him a brilliant bowler either. So I know what impact he can create and what impact he will create in the competition.”Gambhir further said the Aussie will create an “impact” going forward.“Tomorrow it might be a completely different day. Or probably going forward, it could be a completely different day. An individual can have a brilliant performance and the team doesn’t end up winning.“There’s no reason why you should talk about individual performance. I feel that Mitchell Starc has done reasonably okay. I think he’s bowled some tough overs. And he will create an impact, what he’s been picked for,” he said.A new startGambhir, who served as the mentor for LSG in the last two seasons, has made a return to his former team, KKR. Gambhir had previously led Kolkata to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014 during his tenure with the franchise from 2011 to 2017.During Gambhir’s time as the mentor of LSG, KKR faced them three times without securing a victory. Despite this, Gambhir remains optimistic about the new season, emphasising that each day presents a fresh opportunity to begin anew.“It’s a new day, new start. What difference does it make that what has happened in the last two years? It really makes no difference. We start from scratch.“All of us are really looking forward to the game tomorrow. You know, it’s a quality side. But we are a quality side as well,” he said.Gambhir further reacted to criticism about their head coach Chandrakant Pandit‘s “militant style” of functioning.“I don’t read a lot about what has been said and stuff, but it’s been early days. My working relationship with him has been really, really good and hopefully it continues that way.“He’s been very successful in domestic cricket and that’s why he got this opportunity, so far it’s been really good working with him.”Former KKR all-rounder David Wiese had earlier described Pandit as a strict disciplinarian and a “militant-type” coach.(With PTI inputs)