Australia pacer Mitchell Starc was signed by the Delhi Capitals (DC) for a price of INR 11.75 crore in the IPL 2025 mega auction which was held in Riyadh in November, 2024. The 35-year-old featured in a total of 11 matches for the Delhi-based franchise during the season and proved to be quite impressive by picking up 14 scalps.
However, the sudden rise in border tensions between India and Pakistan left the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) with no option but to suspend the league for some days. Due to this, many overseas stars who were featuring in the competition went back to their respective countries.
Starc decided not to return to India following IPL's suspension
Though many of them returned once the league resumed, Starc was among the players who decided not to come back to India following the suspension. The Australian pacer's absence proved to be quite costly for DC, who finished on the fifth spot on the IPL points table, failing to make it to the playoffs.
Starc revealed why he chose not to return for the remainder of the IPL campaign, stating that he had shifted his focus to Test cricket even before returning back to his home country. The seamer is included in Australia's 15-member squad for the World Test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa which is set to commence from June 11.
"I'm comfortable with my decision and how I felt about the whole situation and how it was handled. 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," Starc told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"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," he added.
Notably, Starc's Australia teammate, Josh Hazlewood returned back to India when IPL 2025 resumed and played a key role in the Royal Challengers Bengaluru's first-ever triumph. Starc further said that other foreign players and their respective teams handled things differently.
"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," Starc stated.
Australia squad for WTC final: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.