Indian Premier League (IPL), which is the most famous league around the world, features the best players in the business. The league not only provides good quality of cricket while also offers a big sum of money to players. Perhaps, these qualities don’t attract Australian premier pacer Mitchell Starc to play in IPL.
Starc, who is counted among the best bowlers of the modern era, last played for Royal Challengers Bangalore in IPL 2015. Since then, he has made himself unavailable from the league. In fact, he doesn’t play for any of the franchise cricket around the world. But why doesn’t he want to play T20 leagues? Well, the speedster has revealed the reason behind his choice.
Money is a big aspect of it: Mitchell Starc
Mitchell Starc wants to spend quality time with his wife Allysa Healy, who is also the prominent batswoman for Australia Women’s cricket team. The couple doesn’t get much time to spend together because of their busy schedules. Thus, when other cricketers are busy playing the league, Starc takes that time to spend with his wife.
“Certainly, money is a big aspect of it. It’s hard enough juggling one cricket schedule with three formats, let alone when my wife plays cricket on a completely different schedule as well. So, that’s something that I take into consideration heavily, being able to spend time together and I guess in the instance of the IPL, that (comes during) a Cricket Australia leave period,” said Starc as quoted by Cricbuzz.
Earlier this year, Starc was praised for his effort to watch his wife playing live during the T20 Women’s World Cup final in Australia. He took the leave ahead of the last ODI match against South Africa and went to MCG ground to watch the marquee clash where Allysa Healy played a blistering knock.