Defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders decided to retain six players – Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh.- ahead of the IPL 2025 auction. KKR were among the only two franchises who decided to use their entire quota of retentions and not keep any Right-To-Match (RTM) cards going into the auction. However, one major name missing in the list was their Rs 24.75 Crore fast bowler Mitchell Starc. Starc became the costliest buy in IPL history in 2024 but the Australia international was released by the defending champions. Starc revealed that he did not have any conversation with the franchise regarding the decision.
“I still haven’t heard from them (KKR). It is what it is, that’s franchise cricket, so all barring the Hyderabad boys (Pat Cummins and Travis Head) will be in the auction,” Starc told Australia’s The Daily Telegraph.
Meanwhile, Starc overtook legendary compatriot Brett Lee to become the fastest bowler to achieve 100 ODI wickets in his country.
Starc accomplished this feat during the first ODI against Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). During the game, Starc delivered a fine performance with the ball. He took three wickets for 33 runs in his 10 overs at an economy rate of 3.33. He got the wickets of both openers Abdullah Shafique and Saim Ayub and later went on to get the scalp of Shaheen Shah Afridi.
