Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 26 : Following his side's third Indian Premier League (IPL) title win, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bowling coach Bharat Arun lauded pacers Harshit Rana and Mitchell Starc for their performances in the season, calling the latter as the "best bowler in the world".
An all-round performance from Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), including fiery spells by Mitchell Starc and Andre Russell and a half-century by Venkatesh Iyer, helped the Purple and Gold side secure their third Indian Premier League (IPL) title and their first in 10 years as they defeated Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) by eight wickets on Sunday at Chennai's Chepauk Stadium.
Following the game, Bharat told broadcasters, "He (Harshit) has been outstanding. It is about backing your strengths. [On Starc] I think Mitch coming into the team boosted the confidence of other youngsters in the side. He is probably the best bowler in the world. Once he understood the Indian conditions, he was excellent."
Harshit was the fourth-highest wicket-taker this season. The 22-year-old took 19 wickets in 13 matches at an average of 20.15, with the best figures of 3/24. Starc also did well for KKR. The big buy of the franchise, worth Rs 24.75 crores and the most expensive IPL player ever, picked up momentum in the back end of the tournament. In the playoffs stage, when the team needed him to be at his best the most, Starc picked up five wickets across the qualifier one and final, including a three-fer in the qualifier one against SRH.
Bharat was also full of praise for spinners Varun Chakravarthy and Sunil Narine. He also said that sending Narine to open the batting was mentor Gautam Gambhir's idea and it paid huge dividends as it added more dimensions to the team's batting.
"Spinners mature with age, and with Sunny and Varun bowling in tandem, it was superb. [On Narine the batter] He brought a totally different dimension to our batting. It was Gautam who insisted that he opened and it paid dividends. It is a great night and now it is time to celebrate."
In 15 matches, Varun has taken 21 wickets at an average of 19.14, with the best bowling figures of 3/16. Narine also delivered a quality all-round performance, not only taking 17 wickets, but also making 488 runs at an average of 34.85 and strike rate of 180.74, with a century and three fifties. His best score was 109.
Coming to the match, SRH won the toss and elected to bat first. KKR rocked SRH with continuous wickets, with the big buy Mitchell Starc justifying his Rs 24.75 crores 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 runs in just 10.3 overs with eight wickets in hand, with 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) shining for KKR.
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