Mitchell Starc explains his decision to skip Delhi Capitals return for IPL 2025 resumption

Mitchell Starc finally opened up about his decision to not participate in the remainder of the IPL 2025 after the resumption. Strac and other cricketers involved in this IPL season experienced some tense moments due to the cross-border tension between India and Pakistan.

The Australian ace pacer now clearly said that due to security reasons, he decided not to return to India for the rest of the IPL 2025 season. The pacer was a pivotal part of Delhi Capitals (DC), and his departure eventually had some impact on their performance. DC couldn't extend their run beyond the primary stage of the tournament by some margins.

Starc got tense when they went to Dharamshala to face Punjab Kings. The match had to stop midway due to security reasons. After this incident, BCCI announced to put IPL on a one-week halt. Later, a special Vande Bharat was sent to the north region to carry the players, staff, and crew to a safer place.

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The incident in Dharmashala was too much for the star pacer. He chose safety before playing for the Delhi Capitals. Ahead of the ICC World Test Championship Final (WTC Final), Starc said about his experiences followed by the decision to leave India. 

The reasons behind his departure 

"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 prior to coming over here (the UK). Time will tell with repercussions or how it looks with guys that didn’t return," Starc said in a recent interview. 

"Things were handled differently for different players and different teams. The guys up in Dharamsala, the Punjab guys, were part of that, and while both teams had similar experiences up there, all those guys returned for Punjab, and Jake (Fraser-McGurk) and I chose not to. It was a very individual decision, and I’m happy to live with whatever comes of that."