In the Qualifier 1 game played between Sunrisers Hyderabad and Kolkata Knight Riders at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, Mitchell Starc bowled a peach of a delivery to castle the in-form Travis Head for no score. This was just the kind of perfect start that KKR were searching for.
Starc went fuller in length and found a hint of shape away from the left-handed batter to rattle the timber. It is not the first time that Starc has got the better of his Australian teammate. Even while playing across formats in the Sheffield Shield and limited overs matches in domestic cricket, Starc has employed similar tactics to dismiss the left-hander. The first time he did it was in October 2015 in a 50-over game. He followed that up by removing him in a couple more matches.
The theory goes that Head pounces on any width and it is better to tuck him up for room. Starc did just that by cramping him for room and also pitched it up further to clean him up. In fact, Arshdeep Singh too had dislodged him in a similar fashion in SRH’s previous match versus Punjab Kings.
Starc also took a couple more wickets and finished with redoubtable figures of 3 for 34. In a nutshell, he once more shone brightly in a big game. Eventually, KKR romped him by eight wickets and now will take on the winner of the Qualifier 2 game in the summit clash in Chennai. Meanwhile, SRH would be believe that this is just a small blip in Head’s stellar IPL season and he would return to form in the do-or-die Qualifier 2 game at the MA Chidambaram Stadium on May 24.