Delhi Capitals finished the IPL 2025 league stage in fifth place.
Delhi Capitals (DC) pacer Mitchell Starc has recently spoken about his previous decision to discontinue his participation in the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 following its resumption. This comes after the league was suspended for a week due to escalating border tensions between India and Pakistan. The pacer revealed that he had already been concerned about the situation before their clash against the Punjab Kings (PBKS) in Dharamsala.
After the match was called off due to the security threats, followed by a one-week suspension, Starc decided not to join the DC squad upon its resumption. The preparations for the upcoming World Test Championship (WTC) Final, starting June 11, also played a huge role in his verdict.
“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 and then once the tournament was delayed you start to think about guys’ preparation for the Test match,” he said to THE AGE.
The 35-year-old emphasised his commitment to DC. Many of the other Australian players returned to their respective franchises upon the IPL 2025 resumption. However, Starc stated that it was his sole choice not to make an appearance again this season. Though the pacer is yet to receive any information regarding his status in the DC squad so far, he is content to accept whatever verdict the franchise takes on him ahead of the next season.
“Time will tell with repercussions or how it looks with guys that didn’t return. I am 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. It was a very individual decision and I am happy to live with whatever comes of that,” he expressed.
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The Australian pacer bluntly refused to sledge the South African bowler Kagiso Rabada during their clash in the upcoming WTC Final. Previously, the Proteas faced a one-month suspension for using recreational drugs. However, Starc stated that the current Australian team doesn’t take verbal digs at players on the field. Instead, they play an attacking brand of cricket that has helped them to reach consecutive finals in the WTC. Further, he also slammed the former Proteas seamer Vernon Philander for his comment over the Aussies on Rabada.
‘We will 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]. I would say that people, media and fans, who’ve followed our team closely over the last few years would tend to agree [we don’t sledge]. We play cricket our way, we haven’t played Test cricket against South Africa since [2023], so they can say or have an approach however they like,” he added.
The 35-year-old acknowledged that it will be a great contest between two of the best sides at The Lord’s. Previously, New Zealand and Australia have won once each since the inception in 2019.
“We have all played enough cricket to know when you might have to change tack in the conditions or adapt from how you started a session or a game. Vernon’s gone from someone who’s a master of his skills to a master of his mouth. But it’s going to be a good contest. Two very good bowling attacks, so it could be a battle of the batting really in terms of how guys go about handling conditions where it might move around or swing. In the end it’s going to be down to which team adapts to the conditions the quickest,” stressed Starc.
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