KKR release Mitchell Starc ahead of IPL 2019: Kolkata Knight Riders have made their first move ahead of the IPL auctions.
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IPL franchise Kolkata Knight Riders have released Australian spearhead Mitchell Starc ahead of the IPL auction for the next season. Reportedly, franchises were given a November 15 deadline to release/trade players before the auction.
KKR had bought Starc for a whopping amount of INR 9.4 crore during last year’s auction. However, an injury barred him from playing the entire season of the tournament, which had come as a huge blow for the franchise last year.
Starc’s fitness has been a prevalent concern for Cricket Australia in the recent times. Of late the 28-year old left-arm pacer has struggled to persist across formats throughout a full cricketing season. Other than missing the last season of the IPL, Starc had previously missed a season for Royal Challengers Bangalore as well.
Apart from a fitness concern, Starc’s unavailability due to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 was another concern for KKR.
In the 27 IPL matches that Starc played across two seasons in 2014 and 2015, he picked up 34 wickets at an average of 20.38, an economy rate of 7.16 and a strike rate of 17.05.
With an additional INR 9.4 crore in their purse now, KKR would be looking to buy apt replacements for the Australian duo as Mitchell Johnson has also announced retirement from all forms of cricket now.
Talking about his retirement, Starc was quoted in Sydney, “I got a text message two days ago from the owners of Kolkata saying I’ve been released from my contract, so at the moment I’ll be home in April. It’s an interesting one.
“As far as I’m aware everyone’s on one year at the moment [with CA]. It’s a bit of a changing time with people at CA and that’s a better question for those behind the scenes with CA with what they want to do with contracting. For us we’re not so worried about contracts at the moment, it’s about performing on the field and that will take care of the rest of it come contract time whenever that is.”
Starc would now be looking forward to prepare for the World Cup and the Ashes series which will follow it. Read some of the latest Twitter reactions on Starc below:
