Sydney, Feb 11 (IANS): Australian pace bowling stalwart Mitchell Starc has said he was just a "click of the button away" from enrolling for the Indian Premier League (IPL) auction on February 12-13 in Bengaluru, but instead decided to skip it for the fourth year in a row to spend time with his family and keep himself fresh for Australia's gruelling sub-continental schedule this year.
A total of 47 Australians have enrolled for the IPL auction, but Starc, who was in great form with the ball and the bat during the recently-concluded Ashes series, has opted out of the mega auction.
"I was a click of the button away from entering the auction but personally didn't want to spend 22 more weeks in a bubble," the 32-year-old left-hand quick has reportedly told Fox Cricket in an interview which will be telecast over the weekend, reported cricket.com.au.
Starc will feature in Australia's T20I opener against Sri Lanka at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) later on Friday and it is estimated that his decision to not participate in the IPL auctions over the years could cost him upward of AUS 10 million dollars. in potential earnings. Starc last played in the IPL in 2015.
Left-arm bowlers are one of the most sought-after cricketers in the IPL and the last two auctions saw Starc's team-mates, Test skipper Pat Cummins and Jhye Richardson go for a combined fee of AUS 5.6 million dollars.
"There will be a time where I'd love to go back to the IPL but in terms of wanting to play as much as I can for Australia, that's a decision I've done for a while," said Starc.
Starc, who was picked for AUS 888,000 dollars by IPL side Royal Challengers Bangalore in the 2014 auction played two seasons for them before missing the 2016 edition due to injury. He then did not enter the 2017 auction, which saw English left-armer Tymal Mills purchased for a mind-boggling sum of AUS 2.3 million dollar.
He was bought by Kolkata Knight Riders for AUS 1.8m in 2018, but Starc again missed out due injury. He then skipped the 2019 tournament ahead of that year's World Cup. In 2020, the pace bowler decided not to participate despite several franchises showing interest. Pat Cummins then went for a record sum of AUS $3.17 million.
Australians in the 2022 IPL auction:
Base price of Rs 200 lakh (approx. A377,000 dollars):
Pat Cummins, David Warner, Steve Smith, Mitch Marsh, Matthew Wade, Josh Hazlewood, Adam Zampa, Nathan Coulter-Nile, Ashton Agar.
Base price of Rs 150 lakh (approx. A283,000 dollars)
Aaron Finch, Chris Lynn, Usman Khawaja, Kane Richardson
Base price of Rs 100 lakh (approx. A189,000 dollars)
Marnus Labuschagne, Daniel Sams, Andrew Tye, Moises Henriques, Riley Meredith, James Faulkner, D'Arcy Short, Josh Philippe
Base price of Rs 75 lakh (approx. A142,000)
Nathan Ellis, Jason Behrendorff, Sean Abbott, Billy Stanlake, Ben Cutting.
Base price of Rs 50 lakh (approx. A94,000)
Ben McDermott, Kurtis Patterson, Wes Agar, Jack Wildermuth, Joel Paris, Hilton Cartwright.
Base price of Rs 40 lakh (approx. A75,000)
Tim David, Chris Green.
Base price of Rs 30 lakh (approx. A57,000)
Ben Dwarshuis, Matt Kelly.
Base price of Rs 20 lakh (approx. A38,000)
Hayden Kerr, Tanveer Sangha, Alex Ross, Jake Weatherald, Nathan McAndrew, Tom Rogers, Liam Guthrie, Liam Hatcher, Jason Sangha, Matt Short, Aidan Cahill.