The Kolkata Knight Riders made heads turn in the previous IPL auction by splashing a whopping Rs 24.75 crore to acquire the services of Australia’s Mitchell Starc.
Australian pacer Starc thus became the most expensive player in the history of the league. But in the recently elapsed IPL retention deadline, Starc was let go by the KKR franchise. The team also opted to have captain Shreyas Iyer exit in the retention window.
Even though Starc picked up just 17 wickets in 13 matches for the franchise, he wad part of an unit that won the IPL 2024, the third time that the team from Kolkata won the league. IPL 2024 was the first time the pacer was playing in the cash-rich league after nine years; he last played the T20 league in India in 2015.
Instead, KKR retained Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh.
Now, the Australian star has revealed that he has not heard back from the franchise at all.
“I still haven’t heard from them (KKR). It is what it is, that’s franchise cricket, so all barring the Hyderabad boys (Pat Cummins and Travis Head) will be in the auction,” Starc told Australia’s The Daily Telegraph.
Starc showed he’s in good nick against Pakistan in the first ODI on Monday which the hosts won by two wickets. He was the player of the match, taking three wickets in his 10 overs.
“It’s always nice to find that rhythm I guess at the front end of the summer,” Starc said after helping the Australian cricket team overhaul Pakistan in the first of the three ODIs. “Probably didn’t have that rhythm in the UK tour, with a few moving parts and a bit of sickness getting around the group.”
