Mumbai : Following the victory against Mumbai Indians in the Indian Premier League 2024, Kolkata Knight Riders left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc hailed the spinners saying that they bowled really well in the middle overs.
Riding on an 83-run stand between Venkatesh Iyer-Manish Pandey followed by Mitchell Starc's pure pace magic KKR registered a 24-run victory against MI at the Wankhede Stadium on Friday.
Starc made an extraordinary comeback in the tournament returning with a figure of 4-33. The Knight Riders ended their 12-year wait for a victory at the Wankhede stadium with a 24-run win to edge closer to the playoff spots.
The 34-year-old player asserted that to win the match by 20 odd runs is a fantastic performance. "To win by 20 odd runs is a fantastic performance.
At some points, we were behind the game. We were not used to the start that he had with the bat at the beginning of the game. They have been fantastic throughout the tournament. We lost few wickets at the start and had to rebuild a little bit," Starc said in the post-match press conference
The Australian cricketer further stated that the spinners bowled phenomenally in the middle overs and put the pressure back on the five-time champions.
"Our spinners in the middle overs were phenomenal. They put the pressure back on them, but then it is the nature of the tournament. It's never over, till it's over. To close the way near the end was fantastic," the left-arm seamer added.
Coming to the match, put to bat first, a solid partnership stand of 83 runs between Venkatesh Iyer (70 off 52) and Manish Pandey (42 off 31) guided KKR to 169. For MI, Jasprit Bumrah returned with a double-wicket over before returning with a spell of 3 for 18 in 3.5 overs.
In reply, MI were bundled out for 145. Starc made a terrific comeback in the tournament returning with a figure of 4-33, handing KKR a 24-run victory. Varun Chakaravarthy and Sunil Narine both finished with identical figures of 2/22, including some big wickets in the first half of the chase which put KKR on top in the match.
Following the win, KKR stand in second place on IPL 2024 standings with 14 points. Meanwhile, MI hold ninth place with 6 points by their name. KKR will next take on Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow on Sunday.