Record IPL contract a cherry on the cake for Australian pacer Starc at Christmas

Mitchell Starc’s record $2.98 million deal at the Indian Premier League (IPL) auctions was the ideal Christmas present for the match-winning paceman as he prepares to spend the holidays apart from his cricketing wife Alyssa Healy.

Australia’s all-formats hero became the most expensive player in the history of the league after attracting the eye-watering bid from Kolkata Knight Riders on Tuesday.

Starc tuned in to the auction at home in Sydney while resting ahead of the second Test against Pakistan in Melbourne.

Healy, the newly installed captain of the Australian women’s team, watched from India ahead of the one-off Test in Mumbai.

“I’m not sure any words will do it justice, really,” Starc said of the auction result. “Obviously, Alyssa’s over there with the Australian team at the minute so I think her coverage was slightly ahead of mine here in Australia so she sort of saw the numbers before I did.

“A fair bit of shock and certainly excitement with how it was all unfolding, but nothing I could have ever imagined. “It’s a Christmas full of cricket as usual but it’s certainly one with a nice little cherry on the cake.”

Healy, who is in India leading the women’s team in a multi-format series against Harmanpreet Kaur’s Indian team, faced questions on the IPL auction in her pre-match press conference ahead of the only Test against India starting at the Wankhede on Thursday. The 33-year-old Healy, who jokingly said she would not answer any questions related to IPL, described it as “it is as it is.”

“All right. We’ll get the IPL out of the way, will we? Look, it is what it is. it’s an amazing moment for Mitch,” said Healy.

She said the massive interest that Starc generated was justified because of the hard work he has put in and the sacrifice he has made by missing the IPL for eight years.

“I think it’s a great justification for the hard work that he’s put in and probably some of the choices that he’s made over the last eight years -- to put his country first. So, yeah, a cool day,” Healy added.

The Australian women’s team captain, who comes from a cricketers family as her uncle Ian Healy played for Australia, said she was not partying during the auction but was rather working in the gym ahead of the series against India.

Gautam Gambhir, the mentor of KKR, believes acquiring Australia’s fast-bowling spearhead will also help the side massively in terms of passing on crucial learnings to the domestic fast-bowlers.

Starc has played only two seasons of the IPL in 2014 and 2015 for Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) and was slated to play for KKR in 2018, but pulled out due to a leg injury. “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,” said Gambhir to JioCinema.

There was joy on both sides of the Tasman Sea, with New Zealand all-rounder Daryl Mitchell overwhelmed by his bumper $1.68 million deal to join Chennai.

“Your heart starts to pump a little bit, as you see the paddles going up,” the 32-year-old told New Zealand media. “But having been through the auction before and going unsold, it was a pretty special night last night to experience that.”

Mitchell, who played a big part in New Zealand’s run to the recent World Cup semi-finals in India, also celebrated his daughter’s birthday on Wednesday, the day after the auction.

Agencies