Pacer Mitchell Starc has shown his interest in playing in the Indian Premier League (IPL) after years as he tries to juggle Australia's Test commitments in the subcontinent with preparation for the 2022 T20 World Cup at home in October.
Nominations for this year's IPL auction (to take place in Bengaluru on February 12 and 13) close on Friday, and Starc indicated on Wednesday he is genuinely considering making a return to the competition where he has played 27 matches for Royal Challengers Bangalore.
The pacer was a regular inclusion in the IPL between 2012 and 2015, has missed the last six seasons either due to injury or workload management.
As a multi-format player for Australia, Starc has opted to use the IPL window in the April-May period each year to rest and recover and also spend time with his wife, Alyssa Healy, given the pair is separated for large portions of each year because of their respective playing schedules.
"I've got two days to get my paperwork in, so that might be something to do today before training. I've not put my name down just yet, but I've got a couple more days to decide on that. It's certainly on the table regardless of what the schedule has got coming up. I haven't been for six years or so," Starc was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au ahead of the fifth and the final Ashes Test in Hobart.
"Obviously, with a heavy weighting towards T20s over the last period of time and the World Cup coming up later this year, that's one to take into consideration as well. There's a bit going on with scheduling and what-not to get our heads around, certainly for us multi-format players," he further added.
Australia have a busy schedule in the first half of 2022. After the Ashes series, they will play with New Zealand, followed by five T20Is against Sri Lanka at home. After that Australia will travel to Pakistan and then another tour to New Zealand before the players head to the IPL.
The 31-year old Starc said that the schedule is jam-packed but the IPL was very much in the back of his mind.
"The schedules are quite jam-packed, when you throw in all the tours, obviously we've got a couple of white-ball series post the Ashes before that Pakistan tour. Then you take into consideration the IPL, then a Sri Lankan tour after that, so it's a massive six months of cricket for everyone, but certainly for those multi-format players," he said.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)