Mitchell Starc will be of massive help to our domestic bowlers: Gautam Gambhir

Gautam Gambhir, who recently returned to Kolkata Knight Riders as mentor, spoke exclusively to JioCinema about the money KKR spent on Mitchell Starc at the IPL 2024 Auction and the team’s bowling line up.

Excerpts: 

On Mitchell Starc’s record INR 24.75 crore price tag 

He is an X-factor, there is no doubt about that. Someone who can bowl with the new ball, bowl in the death overs and more importantly, someone who can lead the attack. He is going to be of massive help to our two domestic bowlers because both of them are very talented and you need someone to help them out in the middle and Starc covers those bases. It is not only about his bowling but also about leading the attack and helping all guys around him. So, somebody will have to pay for it. 

On KKR’s bowling line up 

We have a lot of depth in our bowling line-up. We always wanted to have a stronger bowling attack and now we have the options with Mujeeb (Ur Rahman), Gus (Atkinson), Sunil (Narine), Varun (Chakravarthy), and Mitchell Starc along with two Indian seamers and Chetan Sakariya. Now, we have enough options where we can play different combinations looking at the venue as well. For me, it has always been about having a strong bowling line up compared to a very strong batting line up. 

On coming back to KKR 

For me, KKR is not a team, it is an emotion. The reason is the amount of love that I have received from the people of Kolkata for seven years that I led them and hopefully, I led them with a lot of honesty. Hopefully, we can recreate the same memories that we did in 2012 and 2014. There is no guarantee that we will go out and win but there is one guarantee for sure, that we will fight till the last drop of our blood.