Australian pacer Mitchell Starc was roped in as the most expensive player in the Indian Premier League (IPL) history by the Kolkata Knight Riders. However, the Aussie had failed to live up to the expectations with no scalps to his name in the first two matches. Starc, widely regarded for his lethal yorkers and spine-chilling swing deliveries, had been failing to recreate the magic for KKR in IPL 2024.

However, the left-hander sought to take the upper hand against the Mumbai Indians on Friday and did not disappoint. Starc produced a match-winning spell, picking 4 wickets for 33 runs to break KKR’s 12-year jinx of losses at the Wankhede Stadium. In his first over, the Aussie’s old wounds seemed to have opened after he was hit for a four and a six by Ishan Kishan. However, he brought his vintage swing back into play and cleaned the MI opener on the very next delivery.

The two-time former champions did well to stifle the hosts for their 169-run total as they kept MI struggling at 120/7. The latter though, kept themselves alive in the chase with Tim David and Gerald Coetzee as their last hope. With 32 runs required off the last two overs, Starc was brought back to the attack for the penultimate over. David went all guns blazing and whipped the left-arm quickie over backward square for a six on the first ball as Starc’s wife and Australia’s women’s team skipper Alyssa Healy looked on in despair.

However, the Australian pace gun held his nerve and bowled a low-full toss to David as he was caught in the deep by skipper Shreyas Iyer.

As the match already looked rolling in KKR’s favour, Starc followed David’s wicket by dismissing Piyush Chawla on the very next ball off another low full-toss that was hit straight to Sunil Narine. The Australian then wasted no time as he put the last nail in MI’s coffin by dismissing Coetzee with his trademark yorker from around the wicket to bundle the hosts at 145. Starc was overcome by emotion as he celebrated his last wicket with a roar.

After the win, KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer revealed his conversation with the Australian speedster ahead of their clash against the Mumbai Indians where he talked about the importance of KKR’s win over the latter for playoffs.

“Just having a conversation with Starcy. Told him how important this game is for us. If we lost this, would’ve had to win two out of four. Would take this any day. Beautiful victory for us. Hope we could’ve cherished this one,” Iyer said at the post-match presentation.

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