4 min readUpdated: Mar 28, 2026 07:43 PM IST
Mitchell Starc, Australia pacer and a key member of Delhi Capitals franchise in the Indian Premier League, took to Instagram on Satruday to slam the criticism against him for being unavailable at the start of the 2026 edition of the tournament. Without naming individuals, Starc called out the ‘heavily misinformed opinions’ that suggested he is not at IPL 2026 despite being fit. The left-arm speedster clarified that he is currently undergoing rehab for injuries in his shoulder and elbow.
“Despite the opinions and views of certain individuals with their platforms in and through the Indian media, I’m currently rehabbing and managing an injury in my shoulder and elbow, of which I didn’t know the extent of during the Australian summer,” Starc wrote on his Intagram story. “These individuals have made some strong statements around involvement in the IPL and provided heavily misinformed opinions of players, preached them as facts, and claim to know my body better than me.”
The 36-year-old, who was in stellar form for Australia at the recent Ashes, apologised to DC for missing out early part of the season. “With that said, I do acknowledge this injury setback and timing is disruptive to the Delhi team and I apologise for that and to the fans for not being available for the early part of this season. I remain committed to join DC, I am in continual communication updating the team and will continue to do what I can to be available for DC asap.”
One of the critics of Starc’s late arrival was former India opener Aakash Chopra.
“If Mitchell Starc is also not going to come at the start, then what is Cricket Australia doing? You didn’t let Josh Hazlewood come, Pat Cummins isn’t coming, and now you have held back Mitchell Starc also, even though he is absolutely fit,” Chopra had said on his YouTube channel seven days back. “He has already said goodbye to T20Is. So what has he done in the last two months or so? He hasn’t played any cricket after the Ashes, but despite that, you have asked him to rest because a big Test season is coming up, in which there are five Test matches against India. That’s just before the next IPL. Why are you doing that now?”
Since then Josh Hazelwood and Pat Cummins – Starc’s teammates in the Aussie pace attack – have arrived in India, even though they are not in action in the season opener for their respective teams, RCB and SRH, on Saturday night.
“His fitness has been exceptional because he’s obviously been out of the game for an extended period of time so he’s had that time to work on that fitness, a real block of work around strength and conditioning,” SRH coach Daniel Vettori said about Cummins. “It’s obviously a bit of a painstaking process to get the loads up to where he feels confident and strong about bowling. But fitness is good, so over the course of the next couple of weeks, he’ll keep building, and hopefully we can get a definitive timeline, probably in the next 10, 12 days around when he can return to play.”
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RCB coach Andy Flower shared that Hazlewood appears ready to hit the ground running soon. “Hazlewood arrived yesterday (Thursday). He’s looking fit. I did comment to him that he looks even younger than I remember him, so he’s enjoyed some good downtime, but he’s worked hard to get himself back up to full fitness. It’s great to have him here. It’s even great to have him here in our dressing room and in the meetings. He won’t be ready for tomorrow, because he’s just got off the plane, and we’ll be monitoring his fitness very closely and looking forward to him making his entrance into the IPL.”
