LSG vs KKR: 'Win was set up by Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy, not Mitchell Starc' - Mitchell McClenaghan

Former New Zealand pacer Mitchell McClenaghan shared his thoughts on Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) fast bowler Mitchell Starc after the match against the Mumbai Indians (MI). Mitchell McClenaghan stated that Mitchell Starc delivered a good performance, but he didn't win the match by himself.

Mitchell Starc was picked by the Knight Riders for a record-breaking price of Rs 24.75 crore during last year's auction. However, the left-arm pacer has been leaking runs in the ongoing tournament. He had only taken seven wickets at an economy rate of over 10 before the match against Mumbai.

However, the 34-year-old pacer picked up four wickets for the first time in the KKR jersey. He provided an early breakthrough for his team by dismissing Ishan Kishan in his first over. He picked up three wickets, including Tim David, in his final over. The Australian pacer ended with 4/34 in 3.5 overs.

Mitchell Starc Cleaned Up The Tail - Mitchell McClenaghan

In a video shared by ESPNcricinfo on X (formerly known as Twitter), Mitchell McClenaghan stated that Mitchell Starc took four wickets but added that Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy led the team to the victory.

"Bit of recency bias, I think. If you have to be completely honest, Starc cleaned up the tail and took three wickets in the end. The return was great, but that win was set up by Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy. Those are the two guys that won the game today," Mitchell McClenaghan said.

KKR suffered a collapse (57/5) after losing the toss on a challenging surface at the Wankhede Stadium. Venkatesh Iyer (70) and Manish Pandey (42) steadied the innings with an important 83-run partnership for the sixth wicket. They managed to reach a decent total of 169 in their allotted 20 overs.

Varun Chakravarthy (2/22) and Sunil Narine (2/22) led the attack. Suryakumar Yadav showed a fighting spirit with a fifty. Yadav scored 56 off 35 before being dismissed in the 16th over, which shifted the momentum in favor of KKR. Tim David scored 24 off 20 balls, but MI lost the last three wickets for 1 run.

It Is A Confidence Building Performance - Mitchell McClenaghan

Mitchell McClenaghan described the performance as confidence-building for Mitchell Starc but cautioned against attributing the win solely to him. McClenaghan suggested that declaring Starc as the sole reason for victory was an exaggeration.

"That's what it is. It is a confidence-building performance. But to go out and say that he won that by himself... and that's why he's the highest-paid player in the league. That's taking a bit too far," McClenaghan added.

The Shreyas Iyer-led team is currently in second place in the points table, having secured 7 wins out of 10 matches in the ongoing tournament. The Knight Riders will take on the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday, May 5.

Also read: LSG vs KKR: Mitchell Starc bizarrely blames Impact Player Rule for his expensive bowling in IPL 2024