Fierce Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc is all set to make his IPL comeback after nine years. Starc is a left-arm fast bowler who last played in the biggest T20 league in 2015. In a media interview on Thursday, he confirmed his return to IPL 2024 ahead of the T20 World Cup to be held in the US. “I am surely heading back in (next) year,” Starc said. “It is a fantastic way to prepare for the T20 World Cup. So a good opportunity to see if anyone’s curious about the IPL, then lead into the T20 World Cup.” Starc added.

IPL teams will be curious to pick Starc in the auction as he gets a natural angle and has immense accuracy and control over the white ball. Starc has previously played 27 matches representing the Virat Kohli-led Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. In the 34 matches he played, he represented the same team in the 2014 and 2015 seasons. The Australian was ruled out of the 2016 season due to injury and did not give his name for the auction in the 2017 season. In 2018, Starc was selected by the Kolkata Knight Riders team but he withdrew from that season as well.

The major reason why Starch did not contest in the later seasons of the league was his desire to stay fully available for the national side and represent Australia in the longest format of the game. “To choose to avoid some things to prolong playing for Australia, I have tried to be wise about that,” Starc said in another interview.“Yeah, the money and fame are nice, but I would love to play 100 Tests. Whether I will be able to do it or not, I don’t know, but that would be a nice target to accomplish. Hopefully, I can get there,” he added.

Starc has reassured his desire to play tests and reach the milestone of playing 100 tests. He has currently played in whites on 82 occasions taking 333 wickets at an average of 27.6 and 48.8 strike rate. As of Australia’s upcoming test fixtures, the ace bowler can reach his target by the 2025-26 Ashes home season.