Veteran Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has voiced his frustration over the lack of communication from the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) management regarding his release ahead of the IPL 2025 retention deadline on October 31. Starc, who was bought by KKR for a record-breaking price of INR 24.75 crore in the previous mini-auction, expressed his disappointment at not being informed about the decision by the franchise.

Credits BCCI

In an interview with the Daily Telegraph, Starc stated, "I haven’t heard anything from them. This is how franchise cricket is played and handled. Pat Cummins and Travis Head have been retained, and the remaining Aussies will head to auction."

Starc's return to the IPL last season after a nine-year absence was highly anticipated, and he delivered impressive performances, picking up 17 wickets, including crucial spells during the playoffs and final. However, despite his contributions, KKR has opted not to retain the star pacer for the 2025 season, making him one of the high-profile players re-entering the auction pool.

KKR retained six players—Rinku Singh, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell, Varun Chakravarthy, Harshit Rana, and Ramandeep Singh—leaving out key figures like Starc, Shreyas Iyer, and Venkatesh Iyer. The retention strategy was influenced by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI)'s guidelines, which allowed teams to retain a maximum of six players for the upcoming season.

Speaking on the matter, KKR CEO Venky Mysore explained, “The number of retentions allowed is less. We wanted to retain our squad, but that’s not in our hands. The situation is more difficult for us as we won the league with the same set of players.”