Mitchell Starc withdraws his name from IPL 2017

Australian speedster Mitchell Starc has made an exceptional call by making himself unavailable for the upcoming IPL so that he can give all his energy to bring back Australia in the forefront especially playing in subcontinental conditions. Starc feels that resting the body for the nation is much more important than a seven-figure cheque at the Royal Challengers Bangalore camp. The left-arm quickie will be crucial to Australia’ chances in the upcoming 4 match Test series against India starting from 23rd February.

It will be an intense battle on our hands once the greatest batsman of the modern generation, Virat Kohli and the greatest fast bowler of the current time clash with each other in the high intense Test series starting at Pune.

Despite Australia’s lacklustre performance in the subcontinental conditions off late, Starc has been their go to man and has delivered for Steve Smith in crunch situations. Even in the three-match Test series in Sri Lanka last year which the Aussies lost by a 3-0 margin, Starc was the standout performer for the visitors bagging 24 wickets in 3 outings.

It will be a big worry for the RCB camp as the announcement came just a day before the IPL auction. It will be interesting to see which foreign player RCB recruits in place of Starc. On Sunday afternoon a tweet from the IPL announced that they have decided to “discontinue their association ahead of the 2017 season”.

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Moments after the tweet was posted, a statement from BCCI explained that the player and the franchise “have mutually decided to discontinue their association ahead of the upcoming season of VIVO Indian Premier League 2017 in accordance with Regulation 41 of the IPL Player Regulations.”

Starc’s exit will also allow RCB to enter into tomorrow’s auction with an additional Rs. 5 crore and a slot for an additional overseas player. Their current available purse after Starc’s exit is Rs, 17.825 crores with two more overseas players available.