Australia pacer Mitchell Starc has said that he opted out of the IPL auction at the last minute as he did not want to spend another 22 weeks in a bio-bubble. "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," said Starc, who won Australia's men's cricketer of the year award on Saturday. "They'll 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," he was quoted as saying by 'espn.in'.The former Royal Challengers Bangalore player has only featured in two IPL seasons, bagging 37 wickets in 27 matches.
In 2018, he was handed Rs 9.4 crore contract by Kolkata Knight Riders but he had to pull out due to an injury suffered on the South Africa tour a few weeks before the start of the IPL season.Starc, who shone for Australia in their 4-0 win over England in the Ashes Test series, with 19 wickets said he is looking forward to another busy season of white-ball cricket with their tours to Sri Lanka and Pakistan coming up.The mega auction of IPL 2022 will be held on February 12 and 13 while the 10-team season will get underway in the last week of March, according to BCCI secretary Jay Shah. The Indian cricket board is yet to finalize the venues but the top brass stressed that they are hoping to host the tournament in India despite the Omicron threat. The latest buzz is that Maharashtra is likely to host all the league matches with playoffs to be played in Ahmedabad.
