Mitchell Starc to make IPL return after a long break of seven years: Australian all-format pacer Mitchell Starc is completing his return to the cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) following years of reluctance to feature in the lucrative tournament. Starc has now a responsibility to create a balance between his international career and the IPL.
In his recent conversation, Starc informed that he is considering filling the form for the IPL 2022 Mega auction, scheduled to be held on 12th and 13th February in Bangalore.
The ace speedster said that IPL is certainly on cards and he wants to feature in the best T20 tournament.
“It`s [IPL] certainly on the table regardless of what the schedule has got coming up.”
“I`ve got two days to get my paperwork in, so that might be something to do today before training. I`ve not put my name down just yet, but I`ve got a couple more days to decide on that,” cricket.com.au quoted Starc as saying.
Mitchell Starc has featured in just two IPL seasons despite being the best in the business over the last few years. He donned Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) jersey during IPL 2014 and 2015.
For RCB, Starc scalped 34 wickets in 27 matches at a good economy of 7.16 and strike rate of 17. The all format pacer has opted to take the IPL window as his rest time to just go off from the field of cricket and spend time with his family.
The decision seems more sensible since Starc’s wife, Alyssa Healy, is also a professional cricketer and remains away from her family for a large portion of the year. The IPL window seems to be the perfect time for the couple to spend time together.
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“I haven`t been for six years or so. Obviously, with a heavy weighting towards T20s over the last period of time and the World Cup coming up later this year, that`s one to take into consideration as well. There`s a bit going on with scheduling and what-not to get our heads around, certainly for us multi-format players,” he added.
Australia is scheduled with a packed cricket in the year 2022. The Aussies have been fixed to play a home series against New Zealand following the ongoing Ashes 2021-22. They will then play against Sri Lanka in February. Following the series against Sri Lanka, Australia is then scheduled to visit Pakistan for an all-format series.
Right after Australia’s Pakistan tour, the IPL 2022 will begin and it will be extended until June due to the expansion of the tournament. Each franchise will be scheduled to play 18 league stage games followed by the playoffs.
So, there is a lot of cricket planned from Australia’s perspective. Starc will be active in all these aforementioned tours and series. He is the key pacer for Australia and will have to manage his workload efficiently if he opts to feature in the IPL 2022.
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