Starc hints dropping ODI to shift focus on franchise cricket

Mitchell Starc distanced himself from Ind T20 League for the best part of his peak years, but after clinching the title with Kolkata (KOL), will consider relinquishing one format from his life, and that perhaps be ODI cricket. 

"The last nine years, I've prioritised Australian cricket. I have given myself a chance to give my body a break and spend some time away from cricket with my wife as well, so that's certainly been where my head's been for the last nine years," Starc said at a press conference following the Indian T20 League final in Chennai, where KOL annihilated Hyderabad (HYD) to secure their third title, with Starc being the chief architect. 

"Moving forward… look, I am certainly closer to the end of my career than the start. One format may drop off. There is a long time before the next one-day World Series and whether that format continues for me or not… it may open doors for more franchise cricket."

And franchise cricket could mean two months of the Indian T20 League, a tournament he had played just twice in the past, for Bengaluru (BEN) in 2014 and 2015, but generally skipped to be fit and healthy for international cricket.  

As a matter of fact, after all these years playing top level cricket-he made his international debut in 2009- Starc has only made 137 T20 appearances. 

“I've thoroughly enjoyed this season," he said. "It's been great, it leads into the World Series, that's the other side of the benefit of being here against some amazing players in an amazing tournament. It's a great lead-up to a World Series.

"Next year - I don't know the schedule exactly - but I've enjoyed it, I look forward to being back next year and hopefully be seen in purple and gold [KOL's colours] again."

Starc, the most costliest buy in the Ind T20 League auction ever when KPL splurged INR 24.75 crore had a torrid time of it to start with, going wicketless in his eight overs in the opening two matches while giving away 100 runs. He took his time to get into the groove, claiming a three-fer against Lucknow (LUC) and then another four-fer against Mumbai (MUM), but really came into his element in the playoffs, with 3/34 and 2/14 against HYD in Qualifier 1 and the final. 

"I've played a lot of cricket, so I know how to manage myself," Starc said. "I haven't played a lot of T20 cricket in the last few years, so for me, it was trying to find that rhythm of [the] T20 format, and trying to stay ahead of batters."