Former Indian cricketer Aakash Chopra has stated the likely reason for Mitchell Starc’s retirement from the T20I format. Starc played 65 T20Is for Australia. On Tuesday, September 2, he informed Cricket Australia, which subsequently issued an official notification of Starc’s comments, effectively ending his career as Australia’s second-highest wicket-taker in the format.
Chopra reasoned that Mitchell Starc would have preferred to play both the forthcoming Ashes and the ODI World Cup in 2027, prompting him to forego the game’s shortest format.
He also believes that playing in the Ashes and the 50-over World Cups is a far bigger priority for English and Australian cricketers, who have been playing traditional formats for a long time.
“Everyone has their own choice, and I feel the Australian and English cricketers don’t say goodbye to the Ashes so early. It’s a question of tradition. They are hard-wired in such a way that the Ashes is very, very important, and the ODI World Cup is very, very important. That’s how you grow up,” stated Chopra in a video posted on his YouTube channel.
The cricketer-turned-commentator, however, was left mildly surprised that Starc did not wait for the T20 World Cup, which will take place in India and Sri Lanka in early 2026. He also pointed out the fact that the left-arm seamer has not played as many T20Is as would have been expected.
“I am a little surprised. Mitchell Starc could have played a World Cup and said goodbye after that, but he didn’t wait for the World Cup. To be fair, he hasn’t played too many T20Is. He is an absolute gun bowler, but he is also someone who can be very expensive from time to time. You see how and wow with him many times in the shortest format,” he added.
In conclusion, the cricketer-turned-commentator opined that it would have been much better had the likes of Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma retired from ODIs to play red-ball internationals for a little more amount of time, since they had already called a time on their T20I careers in June 2024.
“To each, his own. Personally, I am still not convinced that Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma did the right thing by leaving Tests. In my opinion, they should have continued playing Tests and left ODIs if they wished, because ODIs don’t happen much. Otherwise, they could have continued playing ODIs as well. They had already left T20Is,” remarked Chopra.
India
