Indian Premier League (IPL) franchise Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) has come with the biggest surprise ahead of the upcoming IPL 2019 season by releasing Mitchell Starc on Thursday (November 15).
Ever since the IPL franchises have disclosed their list of retained and released players, there has been a lot of discussions concerning the same, especially Starc’s elimination is one of the most indeterminate among those released players for the 12th edition of the lucrative T20 tournament in the country.
Following the surprising development, there have been a lot of questions raised over the relationship between the Aussie Starc and the two-time IPL Champions –KKR.
However, KKR CEO Venky Mysore has finally cleared the air about the big release –Australian pace superhead Mitchell soon after the announcement on Thursday night, saying nothing hampered their relationship and it was a professional talk over the text.
According to a report in KKR’s official website, Mysore said, “It has been picked up out of context because we (KKR and Starc) have had a great relationship. Even when we picked him last year, not only was he over the moon, but he was also appreciative towards the confidence we had shown in him. He was extremely disappointed he couldn't come here for last year's IPL, and to be frank, so were we. It left a big hole in our line-up. This time, when we had an exchange of messages, he was appreciative of where we were coming from. It was very cordial, and professional type of an exchange.”
Noteworthy, Starc was roped in by KKR in the 2018 auction for a whopping INR 9.4 cr but did not feature in the tournament owing to a leg injury.
Meanwhile, KKR CEO further went on to clarify his point of view by saying that the auctions this year will depend heavily on the availability of the players and Australian and English players will be unavailable from May onwards owing to preparations for the World Cup 2019.
He further added on the same, “The auctions this year will depend heavily on the availability of the players, especially given that the World Cup is coming up. The Australian board (CA) has apparently said that their players appearing in the IPL and the ones appearing in the World Cup has to return (for national duty) no later than May 1. The English board (ECB) has apparently got a similar clause, so that will be an important consideration.”
Mysore signed off by saying, “We are glad the youngsters we showed faith in have grabbed the opportunity with both hands. We are in a fairly happy position, and we feel that we have most of our bases covered.”
(With Times Now Digital Inputs)
