'I’ve had my questions and concerns...' - Mitchell Starc opens up on his absence from the second leg of IPL 2025 after suspension

After the conclusion of the Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025), the veteran Australian pacer Mitchell Starc finally opened up on his decision not to return to India in the remaining part of the tournament. He decided to stay back in Australia after IPL 2025 was resumed following a week-long suspension from May 9 to May 16.

BCCI had decided to suspend IPL due to the escalated cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack. Furthermore, the tournament was back in action after the ceasefire was declared at the Indo-Pak border.

Meanwhile, the veteran DC pacer Mitchell Starc and young batter Jake Fraser-McGurk didn’t come back for the remainder of the tournament, while all other players made it to India to play the tournament.

“Time will tell with repercussions” – Mitchell Starc on missing IPL 2025

In the same vein, Starc recently broke his silence regarding the matter, as many people in the cricketing fraternity discussed his decision not to return to India.

“I’m comfortable with my decision and how I felt about the whole situation and how it was handled. That’s why I made my decision post-that, and my focus changed to red-ball cricket for about a week before coming over here. Time will tell with repercussions or how it looks with guys that didn’t return. But I’ve had my questions and concerns leading into that game, and obviously, we saw what happened, which played a part in my decision,” said Starc to the Sydney Morning Herald.

“There was a little bit of that to my decision around the Champions Trophy in Pakistan. And then once the tournament was delayed, you start to think about guys’ preparation for the Test match,” he added later.

Now, Starc will be in action for Australia against South Africa in the highly anticipated World Test Championship 2023-25 final, starting from June 11.