Kolkata Knight Riders pacer and IPL 2024 finalist Mitchell Starc Photo | AFP
CHENNAI: Kolkata Knight Riders pacer and IPL 2024 finalist Mitchell Starc was happy with his top performance in the second half of the league after his side beat Sunrisers Hyderabad to lift the trophy in Chennai on Sunday night.
“I've thoroughly enjoyed this season. It's been a great season and as you say, it leads up to the World Cup. Another benefit of being here is that you get to play against great players in great tournaments. It's been a great run-up to the World Cup. It's been a great success, but we have a lot of players in a good position for the World Cup. We don't know exactly what the schedule is next year, but like I said before, I've enjoyed this season and I'm looking forward to coming back next year and hopefully I'll be in the purple and gold again,” Starc said in the post-match press conference.
The Australian also admitted that he might play more franchise cricket going forward and ditch one format of international cricket. “I'm certainly closer to the end of my career than the beginning. One format might be gone and there's a long time until the next One-Day World Cup. Whether that format continues for me or not, it might open the door to franchise cricket more,” he said.
While both SRH and KKR are known for scoring high runs, the final was a low-scoring match and Starc had no complaints. “I'm happy we weren't given over 200 at the ground,” he added with a chuckle. “So it's good for the bowlers. I think it was different to a lot of the wickets we've seen in the IPL. Obviously both teams were a bit off early on. I think it was probably a bit slower, I think we were held back a bit on the wicket and I don't think there was as much turn as there was in the Royals v Sunrisers game a few days ago, but we certainly had a grip on the wicket. So, yeah, I think we bowled great and kept them under 120 and our batsmen performed brilliantly again throughout the tournament.”
Though Starc didn't start the year well, he has enough experience to get through the good and bad moments throughout the IPL season and has a familiar face in Bharat Arun to fall back on if needed. “I've worked with Bharat a few years ago when I was with RCB and it was good to be reunited with him this year. It certainly wasn't very technical, maybe a bit more tactical and there were suggestions to try different things. Against batsmen I haven't seen or don't know very well, I asked him, Shreyas Iyer and GG (Gautam Gambhir) to do those kinds of things,” Starc said. “I've played a lot of cricket so I know how to manage myself there. I haven't played much T20 cricket in the last few years so for me it was just trying to find a rhythm in the T20 format and try to stay ahead of the batsmen,” he added.
Starc finished the season with 17 wickets, but was initially criticised for not delivering despite signing with KKR for a record Rs 247.5 million. “Nights like tonight and the last game are why I was selected to come here and as I said before, I'm happy to contribute. We've been joking around and having friendly conversations about transfer fees and stuff like that. It doesn't bother me too much. I've been criticised a lot in my career and I think the pressure of being an overseas player and the transfer fee is a natural part of coming to the best domestic league in the world,” Starc explained.
