The Gossip

Stark would like to use this tournament as preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup in June. Their base price was two crore rupees. Kolkata purchased them for 12 times the base price.

After a gap of eight years, Australian left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc will be seen playing in the IPL. He was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders for INR 24.75 crores in the IPL 2024 auction held in Dubai on Tuesday. He also became the most expensive player in IPL history. In this regard, he left behind his Australian teammate and captain Pat Cummins, who was bought by the Sunrisers Hyderabad for INR 20.5 crores today.

Stark exclaimed with joy, “This was truly astonishing! My wife Elisa Healy is currently with the women’s team in India. She has been receiving updates from me regularly. I am surprised, but more importantly, I am thrilled. There has been a long conversation going on in our Test team’s WhatsApp group between me and Cummins. The fellow players are saying that it’s our turn to treat them to dinner. We will do it before the Boxing Day Test. It’s a special day for both of us.

Stark said, “It has been quite some time since I played in the IPL. I was a part of this league in 2014 and 2015. Then Kolkata Knight Riders bought me in 2018, but I got injured. However, since then, I have been focusing on international cricket and Test matches. Although, I don’t have many assignments in front of Australia right now and in the coming year. In such a situation, I am considering joining the IPL again.”

In the IPL 2014, there was a dispute between Kieron Pollard and Mitchell Starc. In the 17th over of the match played between Royal Challengers Bangalore and Mumbai Indians, Mitchell Starc, representing Royal Challengers Bangalore, bowled a fantastic bouncer to Kieron Pollard. Pollard was completely taken aback by this bouncer. After this, Starc made some sarcastic remarks towards Pollard. Pollard immediately responded to this. However, when Starc came to bowl the next delivery, Pollard moved away from the crease. Despite this, he still managed to hit the ball thrown by Starc towards him. This led to a heated exchange between the two players. To calm the situation, Chris Gayle had to intervene. Pollard also complained about this to the umpire. Due to this dispute, both players were found guilty of a Level 2 offense under the IPL Code of Conduct, and Pollard was fined.

Stark would like to use this tournament as preparation for the upcoming T20 World Cup in June. Their base price was two crore rupees. Kolkata bought them for 12 times the base price. Mumbai Indians and Delhi franchise started bidding for Stark. Pant, sitting at Delhi’s table in the auction, also showed interest in buying Stark. After reaching 9.6 crore rupees, Delhi Capitals withdrew themselves and Kolkata Knight Riders joined the race. Mumbai Indians then withdrew their bid after reaching 9.8 crore rupees. Then Gujarat Titans entered the bidding.

Afterwards, what happened stunned everyone present in the auction room. Both GT and KKR placed bids to acquire Stark without mentioning their withdrawal. Finally, KKR purchased Stark for 24.75 crores, strengthening their bowling line-up. Kolkata also welcomed Stark by posting a video. Stark’s ability to swing the ball at a fast pace makes him a lethal bowler in any format. He is also skilled at changing the pace in the final overs.

Stark last played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL in 2015. He took 20 wickets in 13 matches with an average of 14.55 and an economy rate of 6.76 that year. However, due to various reasons including injuries, this left-handed fast bowler has not been a part of the tournament since 2015. Kolkata Knight Riders bought Stark for 9.4 crore rupees in 2018, but he decided to leave the team due to his injury. Stark last participated in the T20 World Cup for Australia a year ago. He has taken 73 wickets in 58 T20 matches for Australia with an average of 22.91.