Ace Australia pacer Mitchell Starc cited ‘personal reasons’ to back out of the ongoing Champions Trophy 2025. Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood were ruled out with their respective injuries and Starc was expected to carry the load of the bowling unit. However, ahead of the white-ball series against Sri Lanka, the 35-year-old announced his decision, which was a major blow for the team.
Recently, Starc revealed the reason behind not travelling for the Champions Trophy. The cricketer noted that he is dealing with an ankle injury and due to some ‘personal views’, he decided to opt out. The cricketer didn’t explain his ‘personal views’ but noted, that a break was important for his recovery ahead of the IPL and World Test Championship (WTC) final.
“There's a few different reasons, some personal views, and had a bit of ankle pain through the Test series [against Sri Lanka]. So just get that one right, obviously, we've got the Test final coming up and a West Indies tour after that,” Starc told the Willow Talk podcast.
“There's some IPL cricket as well, but my main one top of my mind is that Test final so get my body right, play some cricket in the next couple of months and then ready to go for the Test final,” he added.
Starc calls for changes to WTC format
Starc feels that the current WTC format needs a few changes as a percentage-based model cannot always judge the best teams. He noted that it would be hard for ICC to fix it, but he is happy that two strong teams - South Africa and Australia- will fight against each other in the WTC final in 2025.
“I think the format needs some tinkering still. It's a very hard one to fix, I guess, when you only play six series that contribute to the point system. You get the same points for home and away wins, it's a percentage-based model. So it's an imperfect system. But I think two really good teams will be facing off in the final,” Starc said.