KKR contemplating benching Mitchell Starc? Stuart Broad comes up with a sensational revelation

Former England pacer Stuart Broad, who is currently on commentary duty with Star Sports’ English team, feels that Mitchell Starc will produce a turnaround in the upcoming matches.

Broad made this claim after seeing Starc being thrashed on by the RCB batters last night during Kolkata Knight Riders’ 7-wicket win at the M. Chinnaswamy stadium. The Aussie left-arm pacer had a poor economy rate of over 11 as he gave away 47 runs from his 4 overs.

It is unknown whether Mitchell Starc is feeling the pressure of being the most expensive player in the history of IPL or if is he just currently out of form. Whatever it may be, the KKR management, including mentor Gautam Gambhir will be hoping to see him improve as the season proceeds. The 24.75 Crores buy has experienced a terrible welcome back in the richest T20 league where he is returning for the first time since 2015.

During KKR’s opening match against Sunrisers Hyderabad at the Eden Gardens, Mitchell Starc proved to be the second most expensive bowler after Varun Chakravarty.

While the Indian leg-spinner went for 55 runs in his 4 overs, the 2-time Cricket World Cup winner, who had won the CWC 2023 semi-final against South Africa in the same venue, had conceded 53. That too without a wicket on his name and last night, the story remained the same as he went wicketless.

What did Stuart Broad say about Mitchell Starc?

While discussing the lean patch that Mitchell Starc has experienced in KKR’s first two matches, Stuart Broad claimed that the Australian is lacking match awareness. The reason why he is unable to pick wickets has something to do with his bonding with skipper Shreyas Iyer as well as a fielding group.

Broad, who never played a single season of the IPL, said that Mitchell Starc should be bonding with his teammates more and that when he gets into a rhythm, there’s no one more dangerous than him.

“There’s no doubt that when he gets it right, he’s lethal with the ball. But he is just lacking a bit of match awareness in the IPL. The more that he gets to know his captain and his fielding group, the better he’ll get. He’ll be feeling a bit of pressure because when you come with that price tag, you want to pick wickets.” – Stuart Broad said via Star Sports. 

Another thing to note here about Mitchell Starc is that he has bowled on two surfaces that are tailor-made for batting. The one at the Eden Gardens was a literal batting paradise as we saw more than 400 runs scored, the Chinnaswamy track was no different. So Starc might have to tweak his tactics a bit and hope that he plays in a bowling-friendly track in the upcoming matches.

Broad highlights KKR’s winning performance despite poor outings from Mitchell Starc

Stuart Broad then raised a very good point that KKR, despite his poor performances with the ball, is still on winning ways. They are currently the 3rd franchise along with CSK and RR to have maintained a 100% win record and the Knight Riders also broke the home advantage streak with their 7-wicket win.

The former England pacer further claimed that Mitchell Starc’s place in the team could have been up for debate if KKR were on the losing side. However, since his side has claimed back-to-back victories, Starc has very few reasons to worry.

“He’s 2 for 2 in the win category, which I think is what you judge yourself on. Generally, if you’re in a winning team, you remain in the team. He’ll be delighted that his team is getting over the line. If he’d bowled 0 for 100 and his team had lost both the matches then his spot would’ve come under the scanner.” – Broad concluded.