Kolkata Knight Riders placed a record bid on Australia pacer Mitchell Starc on Tuesday because, team mentor Gautam Gambhir said, he’ll undoubtedly be the team’s X-factor.
The 33-year-old Aussie, who was just last month a part of the ODI World Cup-winning team, went for a tournament record Rs 24.75 crore. Gambhir justified the amount, saying the quick would be their leader of the bowling pack.
“He (Starc) is an X-factor, there is no doubt about that,” Gambhir, who was at the auction in Dubai, said. “Someone who can bowl with the new ball, bowl in the death overs and more importantly, someone who can lead the attack.
“He is going to be of massive help to our two domestic bowlers because both of them are very talented and you need someone to help them out in the middle and Starc covers those bases.
KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir. File photo
“It is not only about his bowling but also about leading the attack and helping the guys around him. So, somebody will have to pay for it,” the former India opener and KKR captain, told JioCinema.
Gambhir, who led the franchise to two IPL titles in 2012 and 2014, said: “We have a lot of depth in our bowling line-up. We always wanted to have a stronger bowling attack and now we have the options with Mujeeb (Ur Rahman), Gus (Atkinson), Sunil (Narine), Varun (Chakravarthy), and Mitchell Starc along with two Indian seamers (Harshit Rana and Suyash Sharma) and Chetan Sakariya.
“Now, we have enough options where we can play different combinations looking at the venue as well. For me, it has always been about having a strong bowling line-up compared to a very strong batting line-up.”
Asked about coming back to the franchise, he said: “For me, KKR is not a team, it is an emotion. The reason is the amount of love that I have received from the people of Calcutta for seven years that I led them.
“Hopefully, we can recreate the same memories that we did in 2012 and 2014. There is no guarantee that we will go out and win but there is one guarantee for sure, that we will fight till the last drop of our blood.”
Pat’s thirst to be at T20 best
Melbourne: Australia captain Pat Cummins hopes to set the upcoming IPL as a base to launch himself into the T20 mode ahead of next year’s World Cup in June.
Cummins, who pulled out of IPL 2023 due to heavy international workload, attracted the second highest paycheck on Tuesday, Rs 20.5 crore by Sunrisers Hyderabad.
The ODI World Cup-winning skipper’s last foray in the IPL was for Kolkata Knight Riders in 2022, where he smashed the fastest men’s T20 half-century by an Australian.
Looking ahead to next year’s T20 World Cup, to be jointly hosted by the US and the West Indies, cricket.com.au quoted Cummins as saying: “I feel like I haven’t played a heap of T20 cricket and in some ways, I feel like I haven’t played my best T20 cricket for a little while.
“I’m really excited… for next year to try to get some games before that World Cup and push a case to not only make the side but to get back to how I feel like I can bowl in T20 cricket.”
PTI
