Ahead of Match 42 of the Indian Premier League 2024, Kolkata Knight Riders have made a massive change to their starting 11 as the Australian pacer, Mitchell Starc is not featuring for the side in the home game against the Punjab Kings.
The Aussie pacer was roped in by the franchise for a record price of INR 24.5 crores in the recently concluded auctions ahead of the ongoing season.
However, Starc has not had the best of starts in the tournament as he has conceded 287 runs in the 25 overs he has bowled across the seven games he has played in the season so far. He only picked up a total of six wickets with his best outing with the ball coming against the Lucknow Super Giants at the Eden Gardens where he picked up 3 wickets for 25 runs.
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But his bowling has been a talking point, especially about the massive price he has been bought for. KKR’s mentor, Gautam Gambhir however, backed the Australian to deliver and highlighted the side’s great start to the tournament.
KKR are currently second and have the chance to build a gap against the third-placed side with a win over the Punjab Kings which will put the side in contention of finishing off the league stages with a top-2 finish.
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The significance of a top-2 finish means that they would have to play each other in the qualifier where the winner would get a direct entry to the finals while the loser of the qualifier would have a second chance to make it to the finals by beating the winner of the first eliminator which is played between the third and fourth-placed sides.
At the toss, Shreyas Iyer the KKR skipper had revealed that the Australian was out for the game as he had a cut on his hand which meant he could not bowl today. The Sri Lankan pacer, Dushmanatha Chameera has come in place of the left-arm quick bowler.
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KKR will expect Starc to recover quickly and will bank on his experience as the tournament gets to the business end where his experience could play a big role.
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