IPL Auction 2024: Is Mitchell Starc Worth The Monumental Bill For Kolkata Knight Riders?

The IPL auction 2024 emerged as an intense battleground where Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Gujarat Titans (GT) engaged fervently to add Mitchell Starc's firepower to their squad. While there was no doubt that Starc, especially after the ODI World Cup success in India, would be a highly sought-after player in the auction, his acquisition by the KKR for a record-breaking sum of Rs 24.75 crore raised the eyebrows of many. Breaking it down, if KKR play a maximum 17 matches in IPL 2024, Mitchell Starc's acquisition would amount to over Rs 6 lakh per ball bowled or Rs 1.45 crore per match. This prompts the question: Does this investment truly justify the expense?

"Things have changed. When the auction is over, all the 10 teams are going to walk out having spent 100 crores and each team decides to slice it differently," Venky Mysore, the Kolkata Knight Riders' CEO, said while justifying the price tag after the auctions.

"So what you have paid to somebody is a matter of perspective. Ultimately, we're all spending the same amount of money. When you plan your team, from a retention standpoint, with the auction far away, you've no idea of who are the players being released from other teams, trades happening, and all that. So it's a very dynamic environment."

To support Venky Mysore's argument, Kolkata Knight Riders do possess a well-balanced squad despite spending that much on Mitchell Starc.

The side has a formidable batting lineup with the likes of Nitish Rana, Rinku Singh, Shreyas Iyer, Jason Roy, Rahmanullah Gurbaz and Manish Pandey in the squad. KKR also have a couple of top-quality all-rounders in Andre Russell and Venkatesh Iyer and spinners in Sunil Narine, Suyash Sharma, Varun Chakravarthy and Mujeeb Ur Rehman.

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