NEWS
Follow UsMitchell Starc has been one of the most expensive bowlers in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, but on May 3 (Friday), he picked up four wickets to hand Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) a 24-run victory at the Wankhede Stadium, against Mumbai Indians (MI).
Starc, who finished with 4/33, including three wickets in the 19th over, reckons that the batters have no fear due to the Impact Player rule. "The Impact Player rule changes things a fair bit," Starc said at the press conference.
"Everyone gets to bat a lot deeper having a batting and a bowling XI. There's a lot made of that rule throughout the tournament and there's been a lot of high scores, which is the nature of the wickets and the grounds we play on here. When you have batters and batting allrounders come in at Nos. 8 or 9, it's a long batting line-up.
"There's no fear in the powerplay when all you have to do is to clear the infield and score runs. Certainly, there has been some really good batting, don't get me wrong, it's not just the rules that play a part there. There's been some fantastic scoring, some fantastic partnerships and some individual brilliance with the bat."
The pacer, who will turn up for Australia at the T20 World Cup in the West Indies and USA, starting June 1, feels that there will be a more even contest between bat and ball, given that there's no Impact Player rule in the tournament.
"There's no Impact Player rule [in international cricket], so whether that affects the scores is yet to be seen," Starc said.
"I think it probably will. People talk about the balance of the team when you can't just bring someone in. Your all-rounders come back into play. Captains have to think a bit tactically, too, when you have just 11 players. It's been interesting to experience it first-hand in the IPL."
Starc, who has an economy rate of 11.4 this season, says that he has not changed much with his bowling, and asserts that he is not the only bowler in the IPL going for runs, given the nature of the wickets.
"I haven't changed too much," he said.
"It's about assessing conditions after the first innings. We certainly spoke about it and the batters that came off throughout that first innings mentioned the wicket and the lengths that were the hardest to face. That created the bowling plans for us."
Starc, who is Australia's leading wicket-taker in T20 Internationals (T20I) among pacers does not think much of just a one-week gap between the IPL and the T20 World Cup.
"It's T20 cricket, it's not as demanding as Test match cricket," he said.
"Physically it is not a problem and it's fantastic lead-in to play here in the best T20 league in the world. You're playing some high-quality cricket leading into the World Cup, a lot of players at this tournament are going to be at the World Cup.
"In that regard, it's a great thing to see and test your skills. In terms of length of time, that's part and parcel of international cricket. My main focus is to play in Lucknow in two days' time. The World Cup is next month - at this moment, it's [about] trying to help KKR win the tournament."
"As T20 cricket doesn't always go the way you want it to go, and of course, I wanted to go a bit better at the start. But I am not the only bowler going for runs. It is what it is. The fact that we sit second [on the points table] and are building towards the more important games at the back end and are playing some good cricket, hopefully I can be a part of it too."
Harshit Rana and Vaibhav Arora have picked up 11 and nine wickets in the IPL 2024, respectively, and Starc is excited to have such talents on the side. "I am a bit more experienced and a bit older; at the same time, I haven't played a lot of T20 cricket," Starc said.
"[So it is about] working off each other in a way. I am certainly not there to tell people what to do, I am happy to answer questions if they have [any] or look to lead more by example at training and get my work in. We are a pretty good group, the whole group of players and staff is awesome to be around.
"I would like to think I am approachable, so happy to train with the boys. I was training with Harshit Rana the other night and made him run extra, which he wasn't happy about (laughs). But no, it's a great group and a lot of time we have a lot of fun."
KKR remain in second place in the IPL 2024 table and are in pole position to make the playoffs, following only their second victory over MI at the Wankhede Stadium in IPL. They take on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) in Lucknow next on May 5 (Sunday).
Five-time champions MI, on the other hand, already have one foot out of the tournament with just six points in 11 games, sitting in ninth position. They will look to end the tournament on a high, starting with a win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) on May 6 (Monday) in Mumbai.
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