Mitchell Starc delivered a sensational spell with the new ball to script Kolkata Knight Riders’ (KKR) thumping eight-wicket victory over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the IPL 2024 final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chennai on Sunday (May 26).

The left-arm pacer, who was signed by KKR for a record sum of INR 24.75 Crore in the IPL auction last December, stepped up in the big game for the franchise.

Starc knocked over in-form SRH opener Abhishek Sharma with a jaffa in the very first over of the final. He also dismissed Rahul Tripathi in the fifth over and returned with the figures of 2/14 in his three overs, which earned him the Player-of-the-Match award.

After struggling in the initial few matches, Mitchell Starc finished the IPL 2024 campaign with 17 wickets from 14 matches, including a match-winning 3-34 in Qualifier 1 against SRH.

Reacting to Starc’s constant criticism on social media in the initial phase of the tournament, KKR mentor Gautam Gambhir said a player shouldn’t pay heed to the outside noise while also adding that the management always believed in Aussie fast bowler’s ability.

“It doesn’t matter what people say in the outside world or on social media. The experts will judge a player, it’s their profession. People on social media will always do that. But what the players are being told in the dressing room, that’s most important,” Gambhir told Sportskeeda.

“We never doubted Mitchell Starc’s ability. We knew he would be an X-factor in the tournament. And what would have been better than standing up and performing in Qualifier 1 and the final? His bowling was terrific. Big players thrive on such occasions. And the money factor is irrelevant. And his price tag wasn’t important to us. Rather we focused on what value he adds to the team,” he added.

Gambhir further opined that the players should not be offended by the experts’ opinions. Instead, they should focus on what the people in the dressing room are telling them.

“Players should not feel bad about what the experts say. It’s their profession. They will judge on your performance. You score a zero and you will be criticized and if you score a hundred you get praised. People outside the dressing room and their opinions are not important at all.

“In that [KKR] dressing room, we never made Starc feel bad about the start he got coming into the tournament,” Gambhir remarked.