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Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pacer Mitchell Starc comes back into the playing XI for the upcoming 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) clash against the Delhi Capitals (DC) at Eden Gardens on Monday, April 29.
Starc, the competition's most expensive acquisition, did not have a memorable return to the league after a nine-year absence. He found success in the day game against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), picking up three wickets while conceding 28 runs. But, otherwise, he has conceded over 40 runs in four matches, while he has conceded 105 runs in his last two appearances.
Mitchell Starc was absent from the proceedings for KKR in their surprising defeat against the Punjab Kings (PBKS), where they failed to defend 261 runs. The Australian pacer's absence was put down to a finger niggle, and Sri Lanka's Dushmanta Chameera replaced him in the playing XI.
Former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen mentioned on air that Starc had to strap his fingers together and he was not allowed to bowl in such a fashion.
KKR skipper Shreyas Iyer mentioned during the toss that Starc is one of the two changes made for the upcoming contest.
"We were looking to bowl first. Yeah we had little bit of chat after the game and during the break. We try to keep things simple, when you lose a game after scoring 260, it's easy to go away from each other. We try to stick with each other in these tough situations. Two changes, Starc comes in and Vaibhav Arora as well," Iyer said after being put into bowl first by DC.
KKR's bowling has been a huge issue, especially at home. They have had a tough time defending scores, with the Rajasthan Royals (RR) and the Punjab Kings (PBKS) breaking the record for the highest successful run chase in the competition's history in the space of a week. The Royal Challengers Bengaluru also came close to chasing down 223 recently.
How does KKR's pace attack look with Starc's return to the playing XI?
The two-time winners have three certified pacers in Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, and Harshit Rana, while Chameera misses out. The team also have all-rounder Andre Russell to call upon if required while the spin duo of Sunil Narine and Varun Chakravarthy rounds up the bowling unit.
Kolkata Knight Riders (Playing XI): Phil Salt (wk), Sunil Narine, Venkatesh Iyer, Shreyas Iyer (c), Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Ramandeep Singh, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakravarthy, and Harshit Rana.
Impact Subs: Suyash Sharma, Anukul Roy, Manish Pandey, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, and Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
