There was a loud cheer when Mitchell Starc stood on top of his mark before bowling the first delivery of the match. The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad wasn’t packed but there were enough purple and gold jerseys in the stands for Shreyas Iyer & Co.
It would have been a welcome change for Starc, undoubtedly. The last time he bowled at this venue was in the World Cup final vs India on November 19 and the capacity crowd had either silence or boos reserved for the Aussies.
Tuesday evening, however, was different. So was Starc. It took the experienced quick just two deliveries to knock over Travis Head with a delivery that had just enough late movement to smash into the stumps.
Within minutes, the cheer for Starc turned into a loud roar as the most expensive player in the history of the IPL sent the opposition and the tournament’s most dangerous batter back to the hut.
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While Head was his first victim, a sharp bouncer from around the stumps caught Nitish Reddy napping. He was too hot for Shahbaz Ahmed who inside-edged one back onto his stumps and was sent back for a golden duck.
In just three overs, Starc clipped the wings of a batting unit, which has soared high, very high, in the IPL. Starc blew hot and cold during the league stage of the IPL but chose the perfect night to stamp his authority. So much so that he almost bagged a hat-trick, bowling a tailing-in Yorker to his compatriot Pat Cummins at the start of his last over.
Knockouts beast
The big occasion clearly switched him on and the performance vindicated why he was the most sought-after bowler during the IPL auction. Before Qualifier 1, Starc had picked just 12 wickets from as many games and had a disappointing economy rate of 11.37. But against SRH, he was on point.
It’s an old trend where his performances in the league stage are completely different from outings in the knockouts. Even in the 2023 ODI World Cup, Starc had picked eight wickets in the first ten games and had an economy of 6.55. In the knockouts, however, he picked six wickets in two games and the economy dropped to just 4.45.
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During the innings break, Starc was happy to get his team off to a good start in the crucial contest and added there was some swing on offer.
“I have been fortunate enough to play on some big occasions, nice to get our team off to a good start, we know how SRH matched us in terms of attacking with the bat in the powerplay. Their (Head and Abhishek) partnership has been the key for them and to get both of them out cheaply, it’s really pleasing. The wicket has got a bit skidier and there is some swing as well, I feel the wicket will get better with dew and the powerplay will be the key for us,” Starc said.
Seamers had picked the bulk of the wickets in IPL matches in Ahmedabad this year and Tuesday was a repeat of the same. KKR quicks, who have the best average this year, together picked six wickets and never allowed SRH to do something which they had been doing consistently this season – out-bat the opposition.
There was a brief partnership between Rahul Tripathi (55) and Heinrich Klaasen (32) in the middle overs but even that didn’t last long.
Ahmedabad has been a happy hunting ground for quicks since 2021. They have scalped 168 wickets in 22 innings (before KKR vs SRH) against spinners’ 77 wickets. The seamers had to lead the show and KKR couldn’t have asked for a better protagonist.
Shreyas Iyer & Co. would now hope the same beast turns up in the title clash at Chepauk on Sunday.
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