Watch: Mitchell Starc dislodges Travis Head's timber to go big in IPL 2024 Qualifier 1

Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) took on Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in Qualifier 1 of the Indian Premier League (IPL 2024), at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad, on May 21. SRH won the toss and opted to bat first. Mitchell Starc was at his best after a string of disappointing outings in IPL 2024. He started by dismantling Travis Head’s timber on the second ball of the first over of the innings. 

Starc bowled a fuller-length delivery that got a hint of late outward movement around off. Head was in no mood to hang around, and looked to force it down the ground. He left enough bat-pad gap for the ball to sneak through and smash the middle and off. He later cleaned up Shahbaz Ahmed bowling the final delivery of the fifth over.

Here are the videos of Starc spitting fire against SRH:

I had a chat with the curator and he said it's a mixed soil: Iyer

After winning the toss, SRH captain, Pat Cummins was more than happy to bat first and bank on his batting arsenal. But KKR captain, Shreyas Iyer displayed ecstasy in having to bowl first. He reasoned his joy by quoting the pitch curator's words of the deck possessing a mix of black and red soil. Evidently, SRH struggled with the bat and most of their batters were deceived by the extra carry KKR bowlers were getting.

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“I would have loved to bowl. I had a chat with the curator and he said it's a mixed soil, let's see how it plays, hoping for a good game. Important that we keep the momentum going and stay in the present. Great achievement (finishing at the top of the table) and everyone is proud of it, we are taking one match at a time and we need to be positive about what's going to happen here. We are going with the same team,” said Iyer at the toss.