After KKR’s thumping win in IPL 2024 final over SRH, Venkatesh Iyer and Mitchell Starc were involved in a fun conversation.
Mitchell Starc and Venkatesh Iyer engage in a conversation after IPL 2024 win
Venkatesh Iyer revealed his favourite Australian cricketer after leading Kolkata Knight Riders to Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 title win on Sunday.
Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) clinched the third Indian Premier League (IPL) title with a dominating eight-wicket win over Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) in the final at the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai on Sunday.
Andre Russell (3/19), Mitchell Starc (2/14) and Harshit Rana (2/24) produced a clinical effort with the ball as Kolkata Knight Riders dismissed Sunrisers Hyderabad for 113, which is the lowest ever total in an IPL final.
In reply, KKR chased down the target in only 10.3 overs with eight wickets in hand with Venkatesh Iyer (52 not out off 26) and Rahmanullah Gurbaz (39 off 32) playing crucial knocks. This was the third IPL title for the Kolkata based franchise after winning it in 2012, 2014.
After KKR’s thumping win, Venkatesh Iyer and Mitchell Starc were involved in a conversation, which was later posted on IPL’s official video.
In the video, Iyer said that Alyssa Healy is his favourite Australian at the moment, not Mitchell Starc. The left-arm pacer started laughing and pretended to walk off after Venkatesh’s comment.
Notably, Starc is married to Healy, who is the captain of the Australian women’s cricket team. She had joined up with the KKR camp mid-way through the tournament and was also seen cheering for her husband during the matches.
The KKR batter also revealed that Healy had to leave before the final and she had sent her best wishes to the side before the final on Sunday.
“Alyssa is my most favourite Australian right now and not Mitch Starc. He is No.2,” said Venkatesh.
“It’s good to have your family around on such a big occasion. Unfortunately, Alyssa had to leave. We spoke with her before the game and she sent her wishes,” he added.
The 34-year-old Australian pacer said that it was great to have the families around.
“We have got the families out here. The extended staff and rest had messages of support before we left the hotel. We had a lot of them around for the tournament. All of this is because of their support,” said Starc.
Earlier, Starc had said that his fortunes in IPL 2024 changed once Healy joined him in India for the tournament.
“Everything’s been better since Alyssa has turned up,” Starc told Star Sports.
There were question marks over the amount of money spent on Starc after his ordinary start in IPL 2024. However, the veteran stepped up during the business end of the season and claimed the Player Of The Match awards in Qualifier 1 and the final against SRH.
Overall, Starc picked 17 wickets in IPL 2024 after being the costliest player in the history of the cash-rich league.