Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], April 13 (ANI): Ahead of his side’s Indian Premier League (IPL) match against Lucknow Super Giant (LSG) at the home arena of Eden Gardens, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) mentor Gautam Gambhir backed his side’s Rs 24.75 crore superstar pacer Mitchell Starc to come good in upcoming games, saying that underperforming in four games does not make him bad and wins are above individual performances for him.
KKR and LSG will lock horns at Eden Gardens on Sunday. KKR is at the second spot with three wins and a loss, giving them six points. They lost their previous match to Chennai Super Kings (CSK). LSG is at the fourth spot with three wins and two losses, giving them six points. They also lost their previous match to Delhi Capitals (DC).
LSG have the edge over KKR in terms of head-to-head contests, having won all three games played between both sides since 2022. Two of these games though have been very close, with KKR losing by a run and two runs respectively.
Ahead of the game, Gambhir said about Starc, “It (his poor stats) does not matter, T20 cricket is all about bowlers getting smashed. We have got three wins out of four.”
“In a team sport, it is the wins that matter. We have got three wins out of four. Why should I not be happy with anyone’s performance? See, people have bad and good days, ultimately, it is the team that needs to win.”
“We have got decent results in the first four games of the competition. And we all know that how big a threat Mitchell Starc is. Four games does not make him a bad bowler. And four good games does not make him a brilliant bowler either. So I know that what impact he can create and what impact he will create in the competition,” concluded Gambhir.
Gambhir said that Starc has done “reasonably okay” and bowled some “tough overs”.
In four matches, Starc has taken just two wickets at an average of 77.00 and an economy rate of 11.00, with a strike rate of 42.00. His best bowling figures were 2/25 against Delhi Capitals.
On playing against LSG after spending two years with them as a mentor from 2022-2023 seasons, Gambhir said that his time with LSG does not make any difference in the game.
“It is a new day, a new start. What difference does it make that what has happened in the last two years? It really makes no difference. We start from scratch,” said Gambhir.
“All of us are really looking forward to the game tomorrow. You know, it is a quality side. But we are a quality side as well,” concluded.
Kolkata Knight Riders Squad: Philip Salt(w), Sunil Narine, Angkrish Raghuvanshi, Shreyas Iyer(c), Venkatesh Iyer, Ramandeep Singh, Rinku Singh, Andre Russell, Anukul Roy, Mitchell Starc, Vaibhav Arora, Varun Chakaravarthy, Suyash Sharma, Manish Pandey, Rahmanullah Gurbaz, Sakib Hussain, Harshit Rana, Dushmantha Chameera, Srikar Bharat, Nitish Rana, Chetan Sakariya, Sherfane Rutherford, Allah Ghazanfar
Lucknow Super Giants Squad: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul(w/c), Devdutt Padikkal, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Krunal Pandya, Arshad Khan, Ravi Bishnoi, Naveen-ul-Haq, Yash Thakur, Krishnappa Gowtham, Manimaran Siddharth, Amit Mishra, Matt Henry, Mayank Yadav, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Kyle Mayers, Ashton Turner, Prerak Mankad, Mohsin Khan, Shamar Joseph, Arshin Kulkarni. (ANI)
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