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Australia had a host of injury issues in the lead up to the ongoing 2025 Champions Trophy. Mitchell Starc was one among them as the 2023 World Cup winners had to announce as many as five replacements to the provisional squad.
The premier left-arm speedster pulled out only a week before the tournament. He cited personal reasons to skip the eight-team competition. However, in the latest news, Starc revealed that to go with those personal reasons was a bit of ankle pain as well which he felt after the Test series against Sri Lanka.
Starc has had a heavy bowling workload over the last couple of months. Since the start of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in late November 2024, Starc has bowled the most number of overs in Test cricket by any pacer. He’s dished out 186.2 overs across seven Test matches, taking 24 wickets.
He was Australia’s sole pacer in the two Tests in Sri Lanka where he picked up six wickets in 33 overs. Hence, he felt some ankle pain and there were personal issues which led to him missing the 2025 Champions Trophy.
“There’s a few different reasons, some personal views, and had a bit of ankle pain through the Test series [against Sri Lanka]. So just get that one right,” Mitchell Starc was quoted saying to the Willow Talk podcast.
Starc has his eyes set on the WTC final
Another reason for Starc pulling out of the Champions Trophy was his commitment to Test cricket. He acknowledged the fact that there will be the IPL 2025 in between but his focus is set on the World Test Championship (WTC) final in June which will be against South Africa at Lord’s. Post that, Australia will travel to the Caribbean to play two Tests against the West Indies.
“Obviously, we’ve got the Test final coming up and a West Indies tour after that. There’s some IPL cricket as well, but my main one top of my mind is that Test final so get my body right, play some cricket in the next couple of months and then ready to go for the Test final,” Starc revealed.
Starc was bought by the Delhi Capitals (DC) for a sum of ₹11.75 crore in the IPL auction for the 2025 season.
