Mitchell Starc is still “heavily committed” to his Indian Premier League team Delhi Capitals but only “time will tell the repercussions” after he decided not to return after the resumption of the tournament unlike some of his other Australian colleagues.
Starc decided against returning to India when IPL resumed on May 17 following a 10-day break after country’s armed forces executed Operation Sindoor, a military operation in response to Pakistan-backed terrorists killing 26 civilians in Pahalgam.
Starc, who was a vital cog in the Capitals’ bowling line-up, took 14 wickets in 11 matches, featured in the contest against Punjab Kings in Dharamsala on May 8 when lights abruptly went off in the stadium and the game was abandoned.
Starc's wife and Australia Women's captain Alyssa Healy was also attending the game when the game was stopped and the stadium was urgently evacuated due to Dharamsala's proximity with the international border.
The 35-year-old Starc said he had his doubts heading into that IPL game between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings given the tensions.
“I’m comfortable with my decision and how I felt about the whole situation and how it was handled,” Starc was quoted as saying by 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 (the UK).” “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,” he said.
Starc said for the same reasons he had decided not to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy with the Australian team earlier this year.
“There was a little bit of that to my decision around the Champions Trophy (in Pakistan) and then once the tournament (IPL) was delayed, you start to think about guys’ preparation for the Test match,” he said, referring to Australia's World Test Championship final against South Africa to be played at Lord’s from June 11.
Starc said things were “handled differently for different players and different teams” in Dharamsala. Both the teams along with broadcast crew had returned to Delhi from Pathankot in a special train.
“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,” he said.
“It was a very individual decision, and I’m happy to live with whatever comes of that." “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. These are different circumstances,” Starc said.
Starc, who won the IPL last year with Kolkata Knight Riders, said having lack of information was also among the reasons he chose not to go back to India.
“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,” he said.
“We will stick to the way we’ve been playing”
Starc said irrespective of the talk about the WTC final against South Africa, Australia will look to play the brand of cricket they’ve been playing.
“We’ll stay true to how we’ve been playing our cricket, the way we’ve been playing to get into this final, the way we’ve been playing it the previous two years to get to that final (in 2023),” he said.
“We’ll have our tactical meetings and whatnot, but ultimately this team has shown over a period of time that we’ll stick to the way we play our cricket.” Starc added, “Close followers of the team would have a different opinion to South Africa about how we’re going to play this week.”
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