pacer
Mitchell Starc has reaffirmed he is completely at ease with his decision to skip the remainder of
IPL 2025. The Australian fast bowler pulled out after the tournament resumed on May 17, following tensions between India and Pakistan that led to the postponement.Starc and his wife
Alyssa Healy joined numerous Australian players who departed from India when the IPL was halted in May amidst rising tensions between the neighboring countries.
In an interview with 'The Age', Starc spoke his heart out on the issue of not returning for IPL 2025, stating that he had genuine concerns about the game in
Dharamsala before the match, amid India-Pakistan conflict, which is quite close to the international border before it got cancelled due to an
air raid warning.
Starc further shared Delhi players' ordeal who were forced to spend 'six hours in a car and similar amount of time on a train' to get back to Delhi, amid uncertainty and inaccurate information about what was happening around them.
“I’m comfortable with my decision and how I felt about the whole situation and how it was handled,” Starc said while talking to The Age. “That’s why I made my decision post-that, and my focus changed to red-ball cricket for about a week prior to coming over here.
“Time will tell with repercussions or how it looks with guys that didn’t return. But I’ve had my questions and concerns leading into that game, and obviously we saw what happened, which played a part in my decision. There was a little bit of that to my decision around the Champions Trophy in Pakistan. And then once the tournament was delayed you start to think about guys’ preparation for the Test match."Starc expressed satisfaction with the outcome, acknowledging that while players and teams received varying treatment, the final choice remained a personal matter for each individual.“Things were handled differently for different players and different teams, the guys up in Dharamsala, the Punjab guys were part of that, and while both teams had similar experiences up there, all those guys returned for Punjab, and Jake Fraser-McGurk and I chose not to. So it was a very individual decision, and I’m happy to live with whatever comes of that,” he added.
Starc emphasised that once selected in an IPL auction, he has always honoured his commitment to play. He clarified that his selective participation in various IPL seasons was a conscious decision to maintain his fitness and focus on his international cricket duties.
“I’m still heavily committed to the Delhi group, and I’m not someone that’s gone into tournaments and pulled out after being picked up in an auction or whatever that looks like,” he said.
“These are different circumstances. It was more a question of not having enough information leading into making a decision [about] things of that degree. I had a discussion back home then came to a decision, and whatever comes from that I’m comfortable with that and we move forward.”
Starc will be next seen in action at the World Test Championship (WTC) final between Australia and South Africa, starting on Wednesday at Lord’s from 7.30pm (AEST).
