IPL: Starc's form returns with his 'best supporter' in the stands

Australian women's cricket team captain

Alyssa Healy

was sitting in the stands at Mumbai's Wankhede Stadium on Friday to cheer her husband,

Mitchell Starc

, who managed to get over a lean patch and produce a match-winning spell of fast bowling that led Kolkata Knight Riders' (KKR) to a 24-run win over Mumbai Indians (MI) in the IPL.
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The defeat, which virtually eliminated five-time champions Mumbai Indians from the race to playoffs, saw KKR getting bowled out for 169 and Mumbai Indians succumbing to 145 all out in 18.5 years, thanks to back-in-form Starc, who took 4/33.

In a video featuring Starc and Venkatesh Iyer on the IPL website, the latter pointed out the presence of Alyssa proved to be the lucky charm for Starc.
"I have to ask you where were you hiding Alyssa Healy till now?" said Venkatesh to start the conversation.
"She has been home because she had been on the road for a while. She is here now, and she is here till the end. So hopefully that's a good sign," said Starc with a smile.
"Then we have to thank her today," Venkatesh responded.

The Australian spearhead, for whom KKR emptied their pockets at the IPL auction to make him the costliest player ever at Rs 24.75 crore, had just seven wickets in 8 matches this season before Friday, and his patchy form was one of the major concerns that KKR hoped to fix before the knockout phase of the tournament.
KKR put up 169 on the board, thanks to a half-century by Venkatesh (70 off 52 balls) and an equally crucial 31-ball 42 by Manish Pandey, despite MI having the visitors on the ropes at 57/5 in just the seventh over.
Jasprit Bumrah once again led MI's bowling charts with his spell of 3/18. Nuwan Thushara also took three wickets (3/42). Captain Hardik Pandya (2/44) and Piyush Chawla (1/15) were the other wicket-takers for the home team. One wicket fell by way of run-out, Andre Russell (7) being the batsman.

For KKR, besides Starc's four wicket spell, Varun Chakravarthy (2/22), Sunil Narine (2/22) and Russell (2/30) took two wickets each.
Mumbai folded up for in 18.5 overs despite Suryakumar Yadav's 35-ball 56. It was KKR's first IPL win at the Wankhede Stadium in 12 years, which also lifted them to No. 2 spot on the points table.
It was also the first game of the season in 51 matches that saw all 20 wickets falling.