Mitchell Starc produced the most exceptional performance in the Indian Premier League on Friday at Wankhede, helping his side Kolkata Knight Riders overpower Mumbai Indians by 24 runs with a scintillating match-winning over. Mitchell Starc, the most expensive signing, (INR 24.75 crore), has witnessed a challenging return to the cash-rich league. Starc has been superbly expensive with the ball, but he is gradually hitting his straps for KKR. Against Mumbai Indians on Friday, Starc was tasked to bowl the 19th over, with Mumbai Indians needing 32 off 12 and three wickets in hand. 

Starc claimed three wickets in that over, overall four, including dangerous Tim David, who was keeping MI's hopes alive with his big-hitting abilities. This is a thumping comeback for Starc, who has tried hard to establish himself in the high-scoring league. 

"I haven't changed too much. It's probably assessing conditions after the first innings. We certainly spoke about it and the batters that came off throughout that first innings mentioned the wicket and the lengths that were the hardest to face. That created the bowling plans for us. We’re pretty disciplined for the most part tonight,” Starc said during the press conference.

"As T20 cricket doesn't always go the way you want it to go, and of course I wanted to go a bit better through the start. But I am not the only bowler going for runs. It is what it is. The fact that we sit second and are building towards the more important games at the back end and are playing some good cricket, hopefully I can be a part of it too."

This season of IPL has seen batters setting new records in the high-scoring battles. Mitchell Starc attributed high-scoring rate in the IPL to 'Impact Player 'rule. 

"The Impact Player rule changes things a fair bit. Everyone gets to bat a lot deeper having a batting and a bowling XI. There's a lot made of that rule throughout the tournament and it’s been a lot of high scores, which is the nature of the wickets and the grounds we play on here. When you have batters and batting allrounders come in at Nos. 8 or 9, it's a long batting line-up," he said.

"There's no fear in the powerplay when all you have to do is to clear the infield and score runs. Certainly, there has been some really good batting, don't get me wrong, it's not just the rules that play a part there. There's been some fantastic scoring, some fantastic partnerships and some individual brilliance with the bat."