RCB and MI should go for Mitchell Starc during IPL 2024 Auctions believes, Sanjay Manjrekar: Amidst all the international cricket going around, here comes the important day for the IPL franchises – the IPL 2024 Auction. December 19 has been set as the D-Day for the IPL 2024 Auction, which will be held in Dubai’s Coca-Cola Arena. The auction proceedings will begin at 1:00 PM IST.
The IPL 2024 Auction will have several big gun players up for grabs, including Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Harry Brook, Mitchell Starc and Gerald Coetzee. As many as 333 players will go under the hammer on Tuesday with a maximum of 70 of them finding a place among the 10 IPL franchises.
As we head straight to the auction tomorrow, former Indian cricketer and renowned commentator Sanjay Manjrekar highlighted the potency of Australian left-arm seamer Mitchell Starc, who will go under the hammer under the highest price bracket of INR 2 Crores.
Manjrekar pointed out Starc’s brilliance on flat surfaces where he effectively manages to keep the opposition quiet. He said, the left-arm pacer does “magic in the air and takes pitch out of the equation.”
The renowned expert added that Mitchell Starc’s prowesses to swing the deliveries both ways and to bowl yorkers in the powerplays and in death overs makes him a special player.
IPL 2024 Auction: “He takes pitch out of equation,” Manjrekar on Starc
“He is one bowler in the world who will maybe take the pitch out of the equation, do all the magic in the air, get swing and hurl in yorkers with the new ball and at the death,” Manjrekar was quoted as saying on Star Sports.
Mumbai Indians (MI) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) play their home matches on flat surfaces. The pitches at Wankhede Stadium and M Chinnaswamy Stadium are largely flat with little to no help for the bowlers. More often than not the games here turn out to be high-scoring ones.
“Teams that have to play half their home games on absolutely flat pitches may go for him. So, teams like Mumbai Indians, who have got (Jason) Behrendorff along with Jasprit Bumrah, could show interest in him after letting go of Jofra Archer,” he added.
Mumbai Indians have released England pacer Jofra Archer ahead of the IPL 2024 Auction. The franchise had purchased the pacer during IPL 2022 Auctions for a massive INR 8 Crores and manifested pairing him alongside Jasprit Bumrah. However, everything went in vain as Archer remained unavailable during IPL 2022 and 2023.
On the other side, Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) have also let go of their premier pacer Harshal Patel ahead of the auctions. Patel became a star bowler during the IPL 2021 when the tournament was held in UAE, however, things have not remained the same since then.
With both MI and RCB releasing their premier bowling options, they will look to seal the deal with Mitchell Starc during the IPL 2024 Auction. Besides Mumbai and Bangalore, there will be a few more teams who will have their eyes set on Starc, making the bidding battle even more intriguing.
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For more details head to IPL’s official website.