IPL 2024 Auction: "It's Humbling To Still..." - Mitchell Starc After Becoming Costliest Player In IPL History

Ace Australian pacer Mitchell Starc had a tremendous outing in the IPL 2024 auction which was held at the Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai. Starc was picked up by two-time champions Kolkata Knight Riders for a record price of INR 24.75 crore. The Australian pacer returned to the cash-rich league after eight years.

Mitchell Starc became the most expensive player in the history of the Indian Premier League auction and broke his teammate Pat Cummins, who was sold for a price of INR 20.50 crore in the same auction to Sunrisers Hyderabad.

While returning to the Indian Premier League and becoming the most expensive player, Mitchell Starc was excited and could not wait to play in front of the KKR fans. Starc said in the video message shared by KKR on their ‘X’ handle, “Hey, KKR fans, I am thrilled to be joining the team for this year’s IPL and I can’t wait to get to the Eden Gardens to experience the home fans, the home crowd, and the atmosphere. Look forward to seeing you then. Ami KKR.”

Mitchell Starc opens up on his return to Indian Premier League

Mitchell Starc also gave up his opinion on his Indian Premier League return and stated that it is very humbling that the IPL still wants him. Starc is currently part of the Australian team playing against Pakistan.

While speaking to Jio Cinema, Starc said, “Our Test squad WhatsApp group’s been going off, letting us know that I think it’s our shout for dinner and drinks. So it might be a costly little trip to Melbourne for us for the Boxing Day Test. But yeah, we’ve managed to find some luck tonight, and yeah, pretty, pretty special night for the both of us, I think.”

“It’s obviously humbling to still, I guess, feel like I’m wanted or needed anyway. So hopefully that experience that I’ve had for a few years now can translate into success in… obviously leading up to the IPL and, hopefully, add some of that to the KKR list.”

Starc has only played two IPL editions and was not available for other seasons due to workload management and fitness concerns. Kolkata Knight Riders is only his second IPL team, however, the franchise roped in the ace pacer back in the 2018 auction but then as well he was ruled out due to an injury.

Reflecting on the same, Mitchell Starc added, “Yeah, it’s been a while. I was obviously involved 2014 and 2015 with RCB and then picked up in 2018, but missed out with injury. And then have really prioritised international cricket and wanted to prioritise Test cricket there as well and playing as much and as well as I could for Australia. So that was my thought process leading up to obviously a number of years anyway. And then coming into the back end of this year and, and into next year, is a lot quieter on the international scene for the Australian group.” 

The Kolkata Knight Riders are yet to lift an IPL trophy since 2014 and will aim to end the drought in the next edition of the cash-rich league.