'The money's nice, but I'd love to play 100 Test matches' - Mitchell Starc on staying away from IPL for years

Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has laid out the reason why he decided to forego playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) in order to concentrate entirely on playing Test cricket for Australia. He has only participated in two IPL seasons with the Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB), and his most recent game was in 2015. Over the course of two seasons, the left-arm bowler played 27 games and claimed 34 wickets.

Although his Australian teammates have consistently participated in the IPL throughout the years, Starc has devoted his energies to representing his country only. If he has a successful World Test Championship (WTC) final with Australia against India, he could become part of the most prestigious group of players to win ICC titles in all formats.

In terms of appearances in Test cricket, Starc has talked about his ambition to accomplish the three-figure milestone. "To choose not to do certain things to prolong playing for Australia, I've tried to be smart about that. Yeah, the money's nice, but I'd love to play 100 Test matches. Whether I get there or not, I don't know, but that would be a nice one to tick off. Hopefully, there's a little bit left in me," Starc told cricket.com.au.

Starc remarked that he possessed a much better outlook while confronting critics

Starc affirmed he would know when it is time to hang up his boots. The 33-year-old also acknowledged that now he has a much better outlook on dealing with criticism. "To play three formats for over 10 years, it's been a lot of pain along the way, but I'm grateful I've gotten that far. Whilst I've tried to add to the bow, as soon as I lose airspeed, there's going to be someone chasing me. Once that next left-armer is coming through, yeah, I'm sure I'll know when I know. That (media criticism) might have bothered me a few years ago, but I've certainly settled on a happy place where it doesn't bother me anymore," he said further.

Starc will be seen in action in the forthcoming WTC final along with competing in the Ashes during an extensive English summer.