Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday perhaps produced the biggest surprise of IPL 2024 Auction, buying Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc for a record 24.75 crore. Former Indian fast bowler RP Singh was left perplexed with the high-priced buy. He jokingly claimed that he would want to be reborn as an Australian left arm pacer in his next life.
Kolkata Knight Riders and Gujarat Titans went head to head for the services of Starc, with KKR being able to purchase the left arm pacer for the record price.
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Starc has not played in IPL for the past eight years. Although he was part of the Australian side that won the ODI World Cup recently, his performance was largely average.
I am a little surprised: RP Singh
Speaking on Jio Cinema, RP Singh laid out the reasons why he thinks KKR overpaid for Starc.
“I am a little surprised with the money KKR spent on Starc. I didn’t feel that anyone would cross the Rs 20 crore mark. The second thing is Mitchell Starc will be playing the IPL after a long time. It’s not that he’s put up outstanding performances consistently. He has not played the IPL for eight years. And it’s not that he has played say five T20s and won three matches on the back of his own abilities. If they spend so much money on a player, then the captain may expect him to win 40% of the matches and ensure that the player has solid impact on games,” RP Singh said.
“So, if I am born again, I should be born in Australia (laughs) and I should be a left-arm fast bowler again!” he added.