Australian paceman Mitchell Starc has revealed the exact reason for not entering the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2022 auction. Despite being one of the most successful white-ball bowlers in modern-day cricket, Starc has only played a couple of seasons in the cash-rich league.
The left-arm pacer last represented Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) back in 2014 and 2015 and picked up 34 wickets at an average of 7.16 and an impressive strike rate of 17. In 2018, Starc was roped in by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for INR 9.4 crore, but he had to pull out due to an injury sustained on the South Africa tour just a few weeks before the start of the then IPL season.
However, this time Starc said that he was just a button’s click away from entering the players’ auction but decided not to do so in order to spend more time with his family and avoid another length stay in bio-bubbles.
“I was a click of the button away from entering the auction but personally didn’t want to spend 22 more weeks in a bubble,” said Starc, as quoted by India Today.
Starc, who won the Australian Men’s Cricket of the Year Award recently, did not rule out the possibility of making a comeback in the lucrative league at some point in the future.
“There will be a time where I’d love to go back to the IPL, but in terms of wanting to play as much as I can for Australia, that’s a decision I’ve made for a while. It gives me an opportunity to spend time with Alyssa and family in those eight weeks outside of a cricket bubble,” he added.