Mitchell Starc. (Source -IPL/BCCI)
Mitchell Starc played a pivotal role for Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their triumphant campaign in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024. Now, the left-arm pacer will be looking to help Australia win the T20 World Cup for the second time.
IPL 2024 saw some humongous scores being posted and tracked down by the teams as the bowlers had a hard time dealing with the plethora of hard-hitting batters on surfaces that had very little assistance to offer. However, Starc opined that such huge scores will not be seen in the T20 World Cup next month. The marquee ICC event is scheduled to be jointly hosted by the West Indies and the USA. The left-arm seamer explained that there will be no Impact Player rule and teams will not have the extra ammunition in their batting line-ups.
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“There is an Impact Player Rule here and not in the T20 World Cup. You are going to have to rely more on your all-rounders. You cannot put your batting all-rounder at number 8, like you do in the IPL. I don’t think that you will see these kinds of high scores in the T20 World Cup, purely because there will be one less batter,” Starc said at the post-match press conference after winning the IPL.
The experienced campaigner said that the pitches in the West Indies and the USA won’t be as good for batting as the ones in India. He agreed that the bowlers will play a significant role, especially as the tournament rolls on and the tracks get slower.
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“Batters have been more brave in the powerplay. They are striking the ball better as we have seen in the IPL. Particularly the wickets have been good. They will not be the same in West Indies, it will turn and they will be more tired. In the back end of the tournament, it may spin more and stay low and slow. Hopefully the bowlers play a bit more role in the World Cup than they have played in the IPL,” Starc said.