Mitchell Starc explains why he skipped IPL 2021

Mitchell Starc has finally revealed why he will not be a part of the IPL this year. The left-arm fast bowler from Australia has played only a few IPL games. Many fans consider him as one of the best bowlers of this era. Still, Starc has not been a regular IPL participant. 

So far, two franchises - The Royal Challengers Bangalore and the Kolkata Knight Riders have signed Starc at the auction. While Starc did play two seasons for RCB, he missed out on donning the KKR jersey because of an injury issue. 

As the ICC T20 World Cup will happen in India, it was largely expected that Starc would return to the league this year. However, Starc has preferred playing in the Sheffield Shield over the IPL. 

“I wanted to play as much Shield cricket as I could. Managing a few little things with the body and wanting to play as much red-ball cricket as I could with certain guys heading off to the IPL, it was my intention to be the constant in the Shield team and hopefully play the role there as a senior head in the team," Starc told cricket.com.au.

The 2021 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) is almost upon us. All teams have kicked off their respective preparations for the competition. The English players have repeatedly highlighted on their India tour how much the IPL matters to them. 

But Mitchell Starc still considers Test match cricket and first-class matches as the pinnacle of the game. 

“I’ve played three formats for a long time, and I find my game plan doesn’t change too much across the formats but still, Shield and Test match cricket is the pinnacle for me,” Starc added. 

He concluded by saying winning the Sheffield Shield with New South Wales was his goal this season. Notably, Starc has never played a Sheffield Shield Final before.