An injury scare to Mitchell Starc a few days back just did not give worry to Australia, but Kolkata Knight Riders as well.
As per the reports, the bowler missed the practice season due to calf niggle and was in doubt to play the third Test against South Africa.
However, he recovered and is playing the Test match.
He also bowled 21 overs on the first day of the game.
Commenting on Starc’s fitness Venky Mysore, the CEO of Kolkata Knight Riders, said,
“I think Starc’s report was not necessarily very accurate. He is absolutely fine. It’s a bit unfortunate with the injuries. All the reports we are getting, they are making very good progress. Fingers crossed.”
Starc was purchased by the franchise for a huge amount of Rs 9.40 Crore.
He did not play the last season of IPL as he withdrew from the league just a few weeks before the start so as to be fit for the international season.
Australia also played Ashes 2017/18 during the season.
Starc will join his former teammate Mithcell Johnson in the KR camp.
The team has young players in form of Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi as well.
Starc will have a major role and the biggest challenge for the pacer will be to keep himself fit for the two months of IPL.
KKR would hope him to play almost every game and lead the pace attack.
However, looking at how Australian players manage workload, there can a case during the league stage when Starc might be rested on occasions.
Managing the workload of Starc will be the biggest challenge for the franchise
Meanwhile, the team has kicked off the preparations for the upcoming season.
Players like R Vinay Kumar, Nagakoti, Shubman Gill attended the camp.
Dinesh Karthik, KKR’s captain, will join the camp a few days later.
Robin Uthappa, Karthik’s deputy, has joined the camp and is overseeing the preparations.
Jacques Kallis, team’s Head Coach, will also join the camp later.
Kolkata Knight Riders kick off their IPL campaign against Royal Challengers Bangalore on April 8 in a home game.
Squad: Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Chris Lynn, Mitchell Starc, Dinesh Karthik, Robin Uthappa, Kuldeep Singh Yadav, Piyush Chawla, Nitish Rana, Kamlesh Nagarkoti, Shivam Mavi, Mitchell Johnson, Shubman Gill, Ranganath Vinay Kumar, Rinku Singh, Cameron Delport, Javon Searles, Apoorv Vijay Wankhade, Ishank Jaggi