Mitchell Starc surpasses Cummins' record to become the most expensive acquisition following a record ₹24.75 crore bid by KKR at IPL 2024 Auction

Australian left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc makes a spectacular return to the Indian Premier League (IPL) after bagging a deal worth ₹24.75 crore with the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at the ongoing mini-auction in Dubai. He breaches the recent record held by his national teammate Pat Cummins, who was roped in by the SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH) earlier during the event for ₹20.50 crore.

Starc triggered an instant bidding war between the Mumbai Indians (MI) and the Delhi Capitals (DC) on the auction floor. The teams with the heaviest purse, Gujarat Titans (GT) and KKR entered the fray at about the ₹10 crore mark.

GT and KKR tussled it out, eventually crossing the record bid and going well past that to get a hold of their new bowling spearhead. GT eventually tapped out at the ₹20.75 crore mark, leading the player to head to KKR.

Starc has played two IPL seasons in the past for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB). He was an instant hit in the competition, bagging 34 wickets in 27 matches at an economy rate of 7.17.

The ace pacer has since not entered his name in the IPL auction, choosing to focus on international assignments. However, with the 2024 T20 World Cup on the horizon and a scarcity of quality T20I assignments on the road to the ICC event, Starc expressed his desire to return to the IPL and entered his name for the auction.

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Mitchell Starc will relish bowling at the Eden Gardens in IPL 2024

Mitchell Starc is one of the best exponents of swing bowling and is a force to be reckoned with the new ball. He is also an accomplished death bowler, with a proficiency for variations as well as a lethal yorker.

With his skillset, Eden Gardens proves to be an ideal venue for him to showcase his ability, not that it is being questioned by any means. He will have the likes of Harshit Rana, Chetan Sakariya, Vaibhav Arora, and Andre Russell as part of the pace department, and any more names that KKR will go after in the remainder of the auction.

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Have KKR made the right call by spending a record amount on Mitchell Starc at the IPL 2024 mini-auction? Let us know what you think.