Starc was poised to be one of highest-paid players in the tournament

While a majority of Australian players, both past and present, seem ready to play in this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL), which begins on April 3, one pace bowler has not given into the peer pressure or lucrative contract temptations and is instead looking forward to spending some time at home and recharging himself after a brutal Test summer. 

Mitchell Starc was poised to be one of the prize catches in this year’s IPL auction, but the seamer has refused to play in the tournament since he is looking to be fully fit and at his best when the national team head to England for the first leg of their back-to-back Ashes series. 

The six-week tournament will have national selector John Inverarity, team-performance manager Pat Howard and coach Mickey Arthur watching very closely and holding their breaths since the thought of one of their key players succumbing to a long-term injury would be absolutely detrimental to the country’s cause of regaining the Ashes after nearly four years. 

While Starc will not be joining his team-mates for the tournament, he admitted that the decision to stay behind in Australia was a tough one, but one that had to be made in the best interest of his international career. 

“I thought about it long and hard and had a chat with a few people and just figured that I’ve had a pretty big 18 months and I feel that my body just needs that time,” Starc said. “The six weeks just to have a couple of weeks off, build myself back up in the gym, get some bowling under the belt and be raring to go if the chance comes to go to England.

“My focus is playing for Australia and IPL can wait. For me playing for Australia has always been the dream and I’ve got a chance to do that now. We’ve got a big 12 months coming and personally I’d rather take those six weeks to get myself ready for the winter over in England if I get the chance to go over there and for the summer back home. I made the decision to go over to England last year to work on my game [with Yorkshire], and this year it’s the smart option to take the six weeks to recuperate and get my body right and strong to go.”

Starc’s sacrifice has already been noted by Inverarity and Howard, both of whom have stated that the 23-year-old’s career will continue to prosper as long as he keeps himself committed to international duty and puts the growing number of domestic Twenty20 tournaments as a secondary priority. 

“It’s all a personal choice, just my decision not to go,” Starc said. “I spoke to a few people, my manager, my girlfriend, a few people close to me and that was my decision. I’ve been going for 18 months straight now, pretty happy with how my body’s going, and I’ve learned a lot in terms of my cricket.”