Ahead of the official announcement made by Kolkata Knight Riders about their list of players to be retained for the impending 2019 season auction in December, Australian pacer Mitchell Starc revealed that he has been released by the franchise over a text message. Soon after the big revelation, questions on a poor relationship between KKR and Starc began to rise. But before rumours could turn worse, KKR CEO Venky Mysore clarified on the reasons behind the big release.
The 28-year-old Starc was roped in from Royal Challengers Bangalore in 2018 for £1.14m ($1.47m), but owing to a stress fracture he was unable to participate in the entire season. And then, ahead of 2019 IPL auctions, Starc was released by KKR. “I got a text message two days ago from the owners of Kolkata saying I’ve been released from my contract,” mentioned Starc.
While questions raised over the relationship between Starc and the two-time IPL Champions, KKR CEO clarified on their website saying, “It has been picked up out of context, because we (KKR and Starc) have had a great relationship. Even when we picked him last year, not only was he over the moon, but he was also appreciative towards the confidence we had shown in him. He was extremely disappointed he couldn’t come here for last year’s IPL, and to be frank, so were we. It left a big hole in our line up. This time, when we had an exchange of messages, he was appreciative of where we were coming from. It was very cordial, and professional type of an exchange.”
KKR have released Starc and Mitchell Johnson among six others, while the franchise retained 13 players including the skipper Dinesh Karthik.
