Mitchell Starc eyes IPL return in 2024 for T20 WC preparation

Mitchell Starc will be returning to the Indian Premier League next year, for the first time since 2015, in order to prepare for the ICC T20 World Cup

Melbourne: Australian quick Mitchell Starc will be returning to the Indian Premier League (IPL) next year, for the first time since 2015, in order to prepare for the ICC T20 World Cup, which will take place in West Indies and June next year.

If he is picked up by a team this will be his second franchise. He had played in two seasons in 2014 and 2015 for Royal Challengers Bangalore, picking up 34 wickets in 27 matches. Back in 2018, he was acquired by Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) before he withdrew due to injury and on other occasions, he prioritised international cricket over IPL.

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However, the next year is comparatively light for Australia. There is a T20 World Cup scheduled between a tour of New Zealand in March and a white-ball series against Afghanistan, Ireland and England from late August. “Look it’s been eight years. I’m definitely going back in [next] year,” Starc told the Willow Talk Cricket Podcast about his IPL ambitions as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.

“Amongst other things, it’s a great lead-up to the T20 World Cup,” he added. “So a good opportunity to see if anyone’s interested in the IPL, then lead into the T20 World Cup. And it is somewhat of a quiet winter next year in comparison to this winter, so I think a perfect opportunity to put my name in,” he concluded.

One of the major reasons why he has not played IPL for so long is that he wants to stay available for Test cricket. He would like to reach a century of matches in format, something which pacer Glenn McGrath has done in the past and remains the only pacer in Australia to do so.

He currently has played 82 Tests and if he manages to play Australia’s upcoming fixtures of the Future Tours Programme, his 100th match will be during the 2025-26 Ashes. “Not just get to 100, I would like to be good enough to be picked for 100 Tests. And then the big one obviously in a couple of weeks is the World Cup, which in India just goes to another level,” he said.

“And then you look at the one-day format, it is sort of four years in between World Cups, so where do I see myself in that mix? But I have got to get to the end of this World Cup first.” “But we have got some superstars coming through. You have got your Jhye Richardsons, your Sean Abbotts, your Spencer Johnsons. You have got plenty of young guys coming through. [Lance] Morris is going to be a gun.”

“I try not to look too far ahead with anything. Obviously, we want to do well in the World Cup. Then we have got five Test matches here in Australia and then I haven’t actually played a Test in New Zealand, so hopefully I am on that tour and look forward to that challenge as well,” he concluded.