Mitchell Starc was one of the reasons Kolkata Knight Riders won the Indian Premier League title in the 17th season. After a few ordinary games, the left-arm speedster bounced back and dominated the rival teams in the crucial games, including the playoffs.
However, he was not retained by the franchise for IPL 2025. The most shocking revelation is that the management did not even inform him that they were not keeping him. The pacer himself revealed it.
The franchises were allowed to retain six players, and the current champions went with Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Rinku Singh, Harshit Rana, Ramandeep Singh, and Varun Chakravarthy. Shreyas Iyer and Starc were shown the door.
“I haven’t heard anything from them. This is how franchise cricket is played and handled. Pat Cummins and Travis Head have been retained, and the remaining Aussies will head to auction,” Starc told the Daily Telegraph.
He picked up 17 wickets, including match-winning spells in the playoffs and the final.
KKR wanted to retain most of their players, but the rules didn’t allow that to happen.
“The number of retentions allowed is less. We wanted to retain our squad, but that’s not in our hands. The situation is more difficult for us as we won the league with the same set of players,” KKR CEO Venky Mysore said. KKR will enter the mega auction with a purse of INR 51 crore.
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