Australia pacer Mitchell Starc finally broke his silence on not returning to India for the remainder of the IPL 2025 season once it resumed after a one-week suspension. The rising cross-border tension between India and Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror attack led to the 18th edition of the T20 tournament being suspended for one week. However, a ceasefire declaration paved the way for the competition to resume.
While most of the foreign stars returned for the remainder of the league, Australia’s Mitchell Starc and Jake Fraser-McGurk, who both represented Delhi Capitals, did not.
While speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Starc said that he had his concerns and questions, and he felt it best not to make the trip to India for the remainder of the tournament. He said he took a similar decision regarding the ICC Men’s Champions Trophy 2025 which was played in Pakistan and Dubai.
Australia played all their games in Pakistan, apart from the semi-final against India.
“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. 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,” said Starc.
