Veteran Australian pacer Mitchell Starc has said that he will not be able to push his body like former England bowler James Anderson to play the game in his 40s. However, the left-arm pace bowler, who will turn 35 in January, hopes to continue for as long as possible, with no plan of retirement set at the moment.
However, to prolong his career and remain committed to the international circuit, Mitchell Starc has left the lucrative world of franchise
cricket for a long time in his career. Although he has won almost every title with Australia over the years, he has a lot to look forward to in the Border-Gavaskar series, the Champions Trophy, and the Ashes. And, Starc recently said that the current cricketing calendar that involves a lot of action across formats has been hard on his body.
“I’ve been very lucky to play three formats for a very long time. How long that will continue, I’m not sure. The scheduling of three formats is getting harder and harder and finding blocks of time to spend time on my body is going to take away from others,” Starc said (via The Sydney Morning Herald).
“Tests are still definitely the pinnacle for me and I think my body will play a part in that decision whenever it gets to it. I’m not someone like Jimmy who played until he was 40-odd and had incredible skills to swing it both ways. I’ve never been that bowler and there’s plenty of better bowlers around the country to fill that job. I’m really looking forward to this summer and I haven’t put any expiry date on anything just yet,” he further added.
However, Mitchell Starc started playing franchise cricket again as he played the 2024 Indian Premier League (IPL) for the Kolkata Knight
Riders (KKR) and helped them win their third title this season as well. Meanwhile, the Border-Gavaskar series between India and Australia has been one of the most interesting affairs when it comes to bilateral cricket and so far India have the upper hand.
“It’s thrown it right on par with an Ashes series being [expanded to] five Tests. The Border-Gavaskar doesn’t have that length of history [as the Ashes] but I think the level of competitiveness between both trophies is on par. We’re currently one and two in the Test table so there will be a bit of spice to it,” Mitchell Starc concluded.
