Australia's left-arm fast bowler Mitchell Starc is set to miss the opening stages of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2015 due to a knee injury.
The fierce fast bowler, who troubled all batsmen during the ICC World Cup 2015 and picked up 22 wickets, will have to stay back in Australia for two-three more weeks, reported ESPN Cric Info. Australia's physio, Alex Kountouris said that Starc will take some time to recover from this injury before he is reassessed by Cricket Australia (CA) medical staff.
He debuted with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) in IPL 2014 and picked up as many as 14 wickets with an economy of 7.49 runs per over.
This will be a mighty blow for RCB as Starc was definitely considered to be the spearhead of their bowling attack. Australian pacer Sean Abott might get his name on the sheet as long as RCB doesn't get Starc's services. The team still has a good bowling line-up with Indian pacers like Varun Aaron, Ashok Dinda and New Zealand's Adam Milne.
It will be interesting to see how fast Starc recovers from his knee niggle and gets a green signal from CA medical staff, which is predicting that Starc would be up and running in another two-three weeks. His injury will be monitored by RCB medical staff as well, before he gets his hands on the ball.
Virat Kohli, the captain of the RCB will have to act wisely while selecting his playing XI as he will miss the fierce pace of Mitchell Starc upfront. Indian pitches are way different than the ones in Australia, where Starc generated fiery pace. His ability to swing the new ball can cause some serious trouble to the batsmen. Although, he might not get the same amount of bounce from these Indian pitches, he is expected to bowl at a good pace.
RCB will take on defending champions Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) in their first match of this season's IPL at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on 11 April.
