Kolkata Knight Riders: Mitchell Starc castling Travis Head for a golden duck to set the base for Kolkata Knight Riders’ eight-wicket win in IPL 2024 Qualifier 1 reminded former Australia all-rounder Shane Watson of how the left-arm fast-bowler dismissed Brendon McCullum in the 2015 ODI World Cup final.
At the Narendra Modi Stadium on Tuesday, after dismissing Head with the one coming back in sharply on the second ball of the game, Starc proceeded to take out Nitish Kumar Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed on consecutive balls in the fifth over to rattle SRH in the power-play.
After SRH were bowled out for 160 in 19.3 overs, KRR chased down the total with 6.2 overs to spare. “It reminded me of Mitchell Starc bowling to Brendon McCullum in the 2015 World Cup at the MCG, just pegs everywhere, getting the key man out. That’s just what he does. He stands up when he needs to and that was a big moment in the game, knowing how devastating Travis Head has been in this TATA IPL… That was a beautiful delivery,” said Watson to JioCinema.
Overall, Starc picked 3-34 and was named Player of the Match in KRR marching to Sunday’s final in Chennai via a big win in Qualifier 1. Watson, who won the IPL with Chennai Super Kings in IPL 2018, felt Starc turned it on in KKR’s favour from the word go.
“He was brilliant from ball one. It’s obvious with Mitchell Starc that if he gets the first few balls right on the money, the length, the line, and the swing, then you know he’s on top of his game. Throughout this IPL, he’s been hit-or-miss, maybe more miss than hit.”
“But tonight, he was at his very best. You would think the ten days from the previous game to this one gave him time to physically and mentally freshen up, and he hit the ground running. He got Travis Head out in the second ball and things went extremely well from there for Mitchell Starc and KKR.”
Watson also had words of applause for right-handed batter Shreyas Iyer’s leadership skills in the tournament, apart from finishing off the match with an unbeaten fifty. “He played a crucial innings. He has batted nicely throughout this TATA IPL but to be able to put up a dominant display like he did, 58 runs, it’s a very impressive time as well, to know you’re hitting the ball incredibly well.”
“As a leader, he’s had a lot of success. This means he’s getting the best of the people around him. It’s not just him doing his thing, he’s performing well, the team and players around him are doing very well, which is a telltale sign that you as a leader are doing a very good job.”
“You are not suffocating players around you by putting too much pressure on them, you are allowing people to have the freedom to play their best and tonight, they were all really good,” he concluded.