KOLKATA: Many will walk down to the Eden Gardens on Saturday not only to enjoy the battle between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad, but also to watch the mini-battle between
Pat Cummins
and
Mitchell Starc
.
The two Australian pacers have already hit the headlines after fetching all-time high price tags in the IPL. They have proved their credentials in world cricket and now need to do so in the world’s most lucrative league, which is a very different ball game.
It will be a new experience for both, as Cummins said, “I don’t remember playing against him (Starc) in my 15 years of playing career. It will be a bit weird to see him in the rival dressing room tomorrow.”
It will certainly be a new challenge for Cummins, who had won the ODI World Cup and World Test Championships but has never led a T20 side.
With an IPL economy rate of 8.54, he is short of game time too, having bowled just seven overs in T20Is between the last IPL and now.
Apart from carrying the burden of expectation after his Rs 20.5 cr package, the pacer will need to take hard calls by benching some of the best T20 players in the world.
The 30-year-old, however, knows how to go about it. “I need to work with coaches and what they want to see out of me as well as a player,” he stated before getting down to work.
Cummins will have to spearhead SRH’s pace attack, guide youngsters like Umran Malik and T Natarajan and also develop a good combination with Bhuvneshwar Kumar. His former side KKR, on the other hand, have spent a fortune on Starc, picking him for Rs 24.75 cr in the auctions.
KKR have a poor Powerplay record and Starc is expected to set that right with mentor
Gautam Gambhir
calling the pacer their X-factor. Like Cummins, Starc’s record in T20 cricket too is not something extraordinary.
The left-arm pacer has played only 27 IPL matches so far, returning to the tournament after 2015. He has played fewer matches in the Big Bash League at home and has not represented any sides in any other franchise leagues.
Interestingly, Starc has played just two T20 matches outside World Cups in one-and-a-half years. The 34-year-old player from New South Wales must now do much better than conceding 8.14 runs an over across all T20s.
English (US) ·