Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has commented on skipping the IPL to focus on international cricket, claiming that he would love to play 100 Test matches for Australia.
Starc has played two seasons in the IPL for RCB during 2014 and 2015 and had a pretty good record in the league. The left-arm pacer played 27 matches and picked up 34 wickets over the course of the two seasons.
Starc was bought by KKR for 9.4 crores during the 2018 IPL auction but didn’t go on to play a single game for the franchise.
Since then, the 33-year-old has consciously skipped the auction to prolong his international career. Speaking to cricket.com.au, Starc said while the money in the IPL is nice, he is aiming to represent Australia in 100 Tests.
“To choose not to do certain things to prolong playing for Australia, I’ve tried to be smart about that,” Starc told cricket.com.au. “Yeah, the money’s nice, but I’d love to play 100 Test matches. Whether I get there or not, I don’t know, but that would be a nice one to tick off. Hopefully, there’s a little bit left in me.”
Starc also said that he will know when it will be time for him to hang up his boots as soon as the next left-arm pacer comes up for Australia.
“To play three formats for over 10 years, it’s been a lot of pain along the way, but I’m grateful I’ve gotten that far. Whilst I’ve tried to add to the bow, as soon as I lose air speed, there’s going to be someone chasing me. Once that next left-armer is coming through, yeah, I’m sure I’ll know when I know.”
Starc has often faced criticism in the media while he was going through a rough patch in international cricket. While the 33-year-old admitted that it did affect him earlier, now he is dealing with it in a much better way.
“That (media criticism) might have bothered me a few years ago, but I’ve certainly settled on a happy place where it doesn’t bother me anymore,” he said.
