Mitchell Starc in IPL 2023: Is Mitch Starc playing IPL 2023?

With the top-3 of five biggest purchases taking place in the mini auction last month ahead of IPL 2023, fans cannot wait for the commencement of the sixteenth edition of the world’s biggest T20 franchise league.

No points for guessing that the marquee allrounders were high-in demand, and the overseas stars in Sam Curran, Cameron Green, Ben Stokes, Nicholas Pooran et al made sure that the franchises were in some mood to break the bank for their acquisition in their respective squads.

Amongst Australians, Green managed to hog the limelight after he became the second-most expensive player at an IPL auction, with five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) roping him in at a whopping INR 17.25 Crore.

While the likes of other Aussies in Jhye Richardson (MI), Adam Zampa (RR), and Daniel Sams (LSG) were also found worthy of bids, a host of other high-profile cricketers in Travis Head, Nathan Coulter Nile, Chris Lynn, Moises Henriques etc. could not make it into any of the ten franchise squads.

Mitchell Starc in IPL 2023

One of the notable absentee during the mini auction was star Australian pacer Mitchell Starc. Unfortunately, the 32-year-old will not be part of IPL 2023, as he opted against registering himself for the auction itself.

The Southpaw cricketer believes that Test Cricket is way above other formats, and that he will make sure that his body gets sufficient rest so that he keeps playing the format for as long as he can.

Starc also explicitly brushed away the criticisms coming his way where fans believed that his constant decision to skip the IPL year-after-year might hamper his T20 bowling.

“It may have [hampered T20 bowling] but if I’d gone there, having no break and playing 12 months of the year, what does that affect? Do I break down? Does it affect my red-ball cricket? You can’t just sit there and go ‘he should go to the IPL’ because he’d be a better T20 bowler. I don’t regret any of those decisions not to go. I wouldn’t change it,” remarked Starc during an interaction with ESPNCricinfo last November.

The pacer last played for the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) during the 2015 edition of the IPL.