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Ace pacer Mitchell Starc starred with the ball for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) against Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 Qualifier 1 in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, May 21. Starc first took the prized scalp of opener Travis Head before taking back-to-back wickets in his third over.
The left-arm pacer dismissed Nitish Reddy and Shahbaz Ahmed off consecutive balls to leave the Sunrisers reeling at 39/4. The dismissals came in the fifth over of SRH's innings.
After a few length balls, Starc went for a surprise bumper outside off, cramping Reddy for room and inducing a thick top-edge as Rahmanullah Gurbaz took a safe catch towards his left. Starc followed that up with a length ball around off to send back Shahbaz, whose lack of foot movement led to a thick inside edge that crashed onto the middle stump.
Watch the video below:
"Starc single-handedly won them a game as well" - Wasim Akram backed Mitchell Starc ahead of IPL 2024 playoffs
Wasim Akram recently backed Mitchell Starc to deliver in the IPL 2024 playoffs, despite managing just 12 wickets in 11 innings. Akram reminded fans how Starc single-handedly won a game for KKR against Mumbai Indians (MI) with exceptional figures of 4/33.
While lauding KKR's bowling unit, Akram recently told Sportskeeda:
"This is [bowling] is one of the main factors [behind KKR finishing on top of the points table], there are wicket-taking bowlers. The teams that will take wickets will win the matches."
The cricketer-turned-commentator continued:
"If you see Chakaravarthy has 18, Harshit Rana’s 16, all-rounders Andre Russell and Sunil Narine have 15, and Mitchell Starc has 12. Starc single-handedly won them a game as well."
As far as the match is concerned, SRH were 125/8 in 15 overs with Pat Cummins and Bhuvneshwar Kumar on the crease. The Knight Riders beat the Sunrisers by four runs in a last-ball thriller in their last faceoff earlier this season.
The winner of Qualifier 1 will book a place in the IPL 2024 final. The losing side will get another shot at the final by facing the winner of the Eliminator between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Rajasthan Royals (RR) in Qualifier 2.
Follow the KKR vs SRH 2024 Qualifier 1 live score and updates here.
