Mitchell Starc Predicts His Career Longevity: Australian fast-bowler Mitchell Starc believes that he will not have a long international career like English pacer James Anderson and will not play cricket till the age of 40.
The Aussie is set to turn 35 next January and hopes to continue his cricketing journey for as long as possible. Having been injury-prone for much of his career, Starc has struggled with prioritising what cricket he wants to play and what not to do.
Despite that, he is a legend in all formats of cricket for Australia. Having won everything there is to win, the left-arm pacer has had to avoid playing lucrative franchise cricket for years. Most notably, he did not play in the IPL, which is the richest cricket league in the world, for eight seasons.
He only returned to the IPL in 2024, playing for the Kolkata Knight Riders, ahead of the 2024 T20 World Cup to get in shape for T20 cricket, for which he was paid record amounts of money. His price tag of Rs. 24.75 Crores paid off when he was named the Player of the Match in the final against Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Starc has won the ODI World Cup on two occasions, the 2021 T20 World Cup, and the 2023 World Test Championship with Australia. He is also one of the greatest pacers of his generation and a serious big-match player. Having made his debut well over a decade ago, he has also had a long career as a fast bowler.
Despite his longevity, it is hard for a pacer to compare to James Anderson in that department. Anderson has played 188 Tests for England in his 20+ year international career, which is the second most Tests played for any cricketer in history.
The English legend retired from international cricket earlier this year after a long and prosperous career that saw him become one of the greatest red-ball bowlers in English cricket history. Adored by his fans and competitors for his skill, and more importantly, for how long he played at the top level, Jimmy Anderson will go down as one of the greats of the game.
Mitchell Starc Predicts His Career Longevity
Starc, who stated above, has dealt with injuries for much of his career, said in a recent interview that he will try to play cricket for as long as possible and will schedule where and how he plays the best he can.
“I’ve been very lucky to play three formats for a very long time. How long that will continue, I’m not sure. The scheduling of three formats is getting harder and harder, and finding blocks of time to spend time on my body is going to take away from others.” Starc said in a recent interview with The Sydney Morning Herald.
Starc then went on to say that he doesn’t see himself playing cricket at the age of 40, which means that he will hang up his boots at some point in the next five years or so, he said.
“Tests are still definitely the pinnacle for me, and I think my body will play a part in that decision whenever it gets to it. I’m not someone like Jimmy who played until he was 40-odd and had incredible skills to swing it both ways. I’ve never been that bowler, and there’s plenty of better bowlers around the country to fill that job. I’m really looking forward to this summer, and I haven’t put any expiry date on anything just yet.”
Mitchell Starc has a lot of cricket ahead of him. In the next year, he will represent Australia in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy towards the end of 2024/the start of 2025. He will then play in the 2025 Champions Trophy in February/March in Pakistan.
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