Australian star left-arm pacer Mitchell Starc won’t be participating in this year’s Men’s The Hundred tournament, as he withdrew his name on the eve of the draft. He entered the draft last month and would have fetched a staggering amount if he participated in the tournament. The tournament will take place a day after the end of the fifth Ashes Test.
This isn’t the first time Starc did something like this. He had withdrawn his name from the Indian Premier League (IPL) a couple of times in the past, plus he will be missing The Hundred for the second time. He was lined up as a top draft pick by Superchargers ahead of the 2022 draft but withdrew before the deadline. He is yet to issue a statement about his not playing in the tournament.
Starc is currently in India with the Australian squad and will soon fly back to his country. He was part of the recently-concluded Border-Gavaskar Trophy and the three-match ODI series.
Though India overwhelmed the visitors in the BGT series 2-1, Australia outclassed Rohit Sharma and co. in the ODIs 2-1. Starc played a crucial role in helping his team win the second ODI by 10 wickets. He ripped through the Indian batting line-up to complete his ninth fifer in the 50-over format, which is also the third highest on the list of bowlers with five-wicket hauls in the history of ODIs.
Twitteratis are praising Starc, thinking that he will miss The Hundred to focus on major international tournaments
Starc won’t be a part of this season’s Indian Premier League (IPL) also. A week after the final of the IPL, India will play Australia in the World Test Championship (WTC) final from June 7 to 11. After the WTC, Australia will gear up for the Ashes series in England, starting June 16. And in October-November, Australia will travel to India again for the 2023 ODI World Cup.
Not just Starc, several prominent overseas players have withdrawn their names from the draft. Australia’s Jhye Richardson, South Africa’s Anrich Nortje, Aiden Markram, and Tristan Stubbs won’t be part of the tournament.
England wicketkeeper-batter Ben Foakes, Pakistan’s Babar Azam, Mohammad Rizwan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, Bangladesh’s Tamim Iqbal, and Shakib Al Hasan, Australia’s Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Marsh, and New Zealand’s Trent Boult are among those players who have listed their names in the draft.
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