Star Australia pacer Mitchell Starc has opened up on his decision to not return to India for the IPL 2025 resumption following a 10-day break due to cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan.
Starc had picked 14 wickets in 11 games for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2025, before the competition was paused on May 8. He was part of the DC playing XI in that match against Punjab Kings in Dharamsala when lights abruptly went off in the stadium and the game was abandoned.
While several of his Australian teammates returned to India for the resumption of the IPL 2025 once the ceasefire between India and Pakistan came into effect, Starc didn’t come back for the remainder of the tournament and DC failed to enter the playoffs.
“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,” Starc was quoted as saying by The Age.
“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 added.
Starc said for the same reasons he had decided not to travel to Pakistan for the Champions Trophy 2025 with the Australian team.
“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 while referring to Australia’s World Test Championship final against South Africa, which will be played at Lord’s from June 11.
As per Starc, things were “handled differently for different players and different teams” in Dharamsala.
Notably, both PBKS and DC teams along with the 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,” said Starc.
“It was a very individual decision, and I’m happy to live with whatever comes of that,” he added.
Australian pacer also noted that not choosing to return back to IPL 2025 was down to extraordinary circumstances.
“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.
