Mitchell Starc for Delhi Capitals in IPL. Image Credits: AFP/ XAustralian pacer Mitchell Starc has handed the biggest blow to Delhi Capitals before the start of IPL 2026. Starc now joins a growing list of fast bowlers who have been ruled out of the initial phase of the Indian Premier League.Reportedly, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins had already been ruled out of IPL 2026 first few matches for their teams, Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and SunRisers Hyderabad (SRH). On Thursday, another Australian pacer, Nathan Ellis, got ruled out of IPL 2026 for CSK.Mitchell Starc joins growing list of unavailables for IPL 2026After 3 pacers have already been ruled out in some manner or the other, now Mitchell Starc has handed a fresh blow to the Indian Premier League team Delhi Capitals. Cricket Australia, on Friday, confirmed that Mitchell Starc will not be joining IPL 2026 from the initial phase.It is being reported that Cricket Australia is managing Starc's workload and hence, they might not be allowing him to play for Delhi Capitals throughout the season. Starc was last seen in competitive cricket during the Ashes 2025-26 wherein he bowled the most overs, playing 5 Tests on the trot.Starc's association with Delhi CapitalsMitchell Starc was bought by Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2025 auction for ₹11.75 Crores. In his first season for Delhi Capitals, he did not play all the games. In the 11 matches that he played, Starc took 14 wickets at an average of 23.12 and a strike rate of 8.61.Also Read- Injury Strikes SRH As Australian All-Rounder Ruled Out Of IPL 2026In this campaign, the Australian quick picked a 5-wicket haul against SunRisers Hyderabad with a 5/35 spell, helping Delhi Capitals to win the game by 7 wickets. Even after his exploits, Delhi Capitals couldn't qualify for the playoffs of IPL 2025 but the Delhi management persisted and retained Mitchell Starc for IPL 2026 too.Can BCCI take any action against preventive withdrawal?IPL 2026 is facing one of the biggest injury lists in the history of the tournament even before the league has even started. This includes overseas players in plethora as certain players have maintained conditional availability while many others have been injured.Sam Curran, Lockie Ferguson, Adam Milne, Nathan Ellis, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, and now Mitchell Starc are some of the biggest names that are out of IPL 2026 in some manner or the other even before the league has started.The BCCI rules state, "Any [overseas] player who registers for [an] auction and, after getting picked at the auction, makes himself unavailable before the start of the season will get banned from participating in the IPL/IPL auction for two seasons." The only exception, the governing council said, will be for "an injury/medical condition, which will have to be confirmed by the [player's] home board".Harry Brook was the biggest victim of this rule when he was picked by Delhi Capitals in IPL 2025 but he withdrew himself from the competition and was thus, banned by IPL Governing Council for IPL 2025 and IPL 2026.Mitchell Starc's case, however, is different. As mentioned in the rules, if a Cricket Board stated that a player is injured or going through a medical condition, he might not suffer the brunt. Starc has been one of the biggest names in IPL despite not playing the tournament for 8 seasons from 2016 to 2023 to prioritize international cricket for Australia. As soon as Mitchell Starc returned to the IPL in 2023, he became one of IPL's biggest ever buy in the auction when he was bought by the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) for a staggering sum of ₹24.75 crores. Although BCCI's rules are laid down in Black and White, Starc's current status lies in grey areas. It will be interesting to see how BCCI navigates this storm of some of the biggest names being consistently unavailable for IPL 2026. Also Read- First Match For Matheesha Pathirana In IPL 2026 All But Confirmed
