Mitchell Starc decides to give IPL a miss

Melbourne: Promising left-arm paceman Mitchell Starc has decided to pull out off the auction race for the sixth edition of Indian Premier League which will feature some of his national teammates like skipper Michael Clarke, opener David Warner and recently retired Mike Hussey.

Starc will use that time during IPL to rest and do the pre-season training for Ashes. "I thought about it long and hard and had a chat with a few people and just figured that I`ve had a pretty big 18 months and I feel that my body just needs that time," Starc said. "The six weeks just to have a couple of weeks off, build myself back up in the gym, get some bowling under the belt and be raring to go if the chance comes to go to England." "My focus is playing for Australia and IPL can wait. For me, playing for Australia has always been the dream and I`ve got a chance to do that now. We`ve got a big 12 months coming and personally I`d rather take those six weeks to get myself ready for the winter over in England if I get the chance to go over there," Starc added. "I made the decision to go over to England last year to work on my game [with Yorkshire], and this year it`s the smart option to take the six weeks to recuperate and get my body right and strong to go." "It`s all a personal choice, just my decision not to go," Starc said. "I spoke to a few people, my manager, my girlfriend, a few people close to me and that was my decision. I`ve been going for 18 months straight now, pretty happy with how my body`s going, and I`ve learned a lot in terms of my cricket," he was further quoted as saying by the website. PTI