“His captaincy has been fantastic”: KKR pacer Starc heaps praise on skipper Shreyas Iyer

New Delhi [India], June 1 (ANI): Days after the conclusion of the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) pacer Mitchell Starc showered praise on his skipper Shreyas Iyer and said his captaincy was fantastic throughout the season.

KKR lifted their third title under the leadership of Shreyas Iyer after thumping the Hyderabad-based franchise by 8 wickets on Sunday.

Starc said that Iyer is ‘level-headed’ and ‘calm’ even when things are not in their favour. The Aussie pacer joked and said the KKR skipper needs to practice coin-tossing for the upcoming season.

“To see him go about his captaincy has been fantastic. He’s pretty level-headed, and pretty calm even when things haven’t gone our way. Hey may need to work on his coin-tossing in the off-season,” Starc was quoted by KKR as saying.

Summarising the final match between Kolkata and Hyderabad at the Chepauk Stadium on May 26, SRH won the toss and elected to bat first. KKR rocked SRH with continuous wickets, with the big buy Mitchell Starc justifying his hefty price tag. Only skipper Pat Cummins (24 in 19 balls, with two fours and a six) and Aiden Markram (20 in 23 balls, with three fours) touched the 20-run mark and SRH was bundled out for 113 in 18.3 overs.

Andre Russell (3/19) was the top bowler for KKR. Starc (2/14) and Harshit Rana (2/24) also contributed well with the ball. Sunil Narine, Varun Chakravarthy and Vaibhav Arora took a wicket each.

KKR pulled off the run-chase of 114 run-target in just 10.3 overs with eight wickets in hand. Venkatesh Iyer (52* in 26 balls, with four boundaries and three sixes) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (39 in 32 balls, with five fours and two sixes) shined for KKR in the final match of the tournament.