Mitchell

Starc

Mitchell Starc Biography and Career

Mitchell Starc is an Australian fast bowler who plays for New South Wales in the domestic circuit and has turned out for Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bangalore in the IPL. Widely regarded as one of the greatest white-ball bowlers of all time, Starc’s raw pace, whippy action and ability to nail the yorkers at will have made him a household name across the cricketing world.

Starc has been a permanent fixture in the Australian pace battery for more than a decade now. He initially wanted to be a wicket-keeper when he started out but as he grew older and taller, he was advised to switch to medium pace.

Starc played first-class cricket for NSW in 2009 as a 19-year-old and within a year he was already knocking on the national doors. He made his ODI debut in 2010 against India where he went wicketless. The lanky fast bowler continued to pick up wickets in heaps and soon enough made it to the Australian Test side where he made his debut in 2011 against New Zealand.

While he was still not a regular in the Australian team, his ability to swing the ball hoops and the raw pace meant he was always on the fringes. By 2013, Starc had become one of the main fast bowlers in the Australian teams across formats. He was the workhorse who could bowl long spells and bowl them through the day.

But, soon injuries took a toll on Starc’s body and he missed plenty of games due to calf, ankle, back and muscle issues with plenty of them requiring surgery. In 2013, Starc was dismissed for 99 in a Test against India, which remains his highest Test century, but not getting his century is something which still haunts him.

By 2015, having recovered from a number of injuries and built enough muscle, Starc became a white-ball champion. And the 2015 ODI World Cup gave him legendary status. He bowled like the wind in the competition, but his biggest scalp came in the final in front of a packed MCG. Running up to bowl against Brendon McCullum, he breached the batter’s defences and his spell gave Australia another World Cup trophy. He was named player of the tournament and finished as the No. 1 ranked ODI bowler in the world.

Starc also became Australia’s go-to bowler in the subcontinent. With his brisk pace and the ability to extract reverse swing, he was often the only fast bowler in the attack in a number of Test matches played in the subcontinent and he excelled.

Starc had another bumper 2019 ODI World Cup where he picked an all-time record of 27 wickets in the tournament though Australia failed to win the title. He was also part of the Australia side that won the 2021 T20 World Cup in the UAE. In 2024-25, Starc played a key role in helping Australia win the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India for the first time in a decade.  

Starc in the IPL and BBL

Starc is part of the Sydney Sixers in the BBL but does not play the tournament as much because of his international commitments. He has been very choosy playing in the IPL as well.

In 2014, Starc was signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore where he stayed till 2015. He then did not play in the IPL till 2023. In 2024, when he finally signed up for the league again, there was a huge bidding war for him. He was picked by Kolkata Knight Riders for a whopping Rs 24.75 crore and held the record for being the most expensive player in the league for a year.

Starc will play for Delhi Capitals in IPL 2025.

Beyond cricket

Starc married his childhood crush and the captain of the Australian women’s team Alyssa Healy in April 2016. Starc had first met Healy in a cricket camp when they were both nine and they formed an adorable couple. In March 2020, Starc missed an ODI match so that he could fly back to Australia to watch his wife play the final of the 2020 T20 World Cup.

Starc has a huge fan following on social media and has close to a million followers on Instagram. He also endorses a number of brands such as Kookaburra, Australian healthcare brand Raydel, and Coca-Cola Australia. Starc has a younger brother Brandon who is a high jumper and has represented Australia at the Olympics.

Starc is also no alien to controversies. In 2012, the England County club Yorkshire had signed up Starc as their overseas fast bowler on a five-week contract. But, on his arrival into the UK, Starc was detained and questioned at the Heathrow airport for more than four hours as his visa forms had not been filled correctly. He was promptly deported and had to fly back to Australia.

Then in 2014, he was involved in a heated altercation with Mumbai Indians batsman Kieron Pollard which involved a bat-throwing incident as well. Both players were fined a chunk of their match fees. In 2018, Starc was part of the Australian side that was embroiled in the infamous sandpaper gate which saw Steven Smith and David Warner banned for a year each.

Mitchell Starc Records

Mitchell Starc Domestic records

• Starc is the first and so far, the only bowler to take a hat-trick in each innings of a Sheffield Shield match in 2017

Mitchell Starc ODI records

• Starc is the fastest Australian bowler and fifth-fastest to reach 100 ODI wickets. He got to the mark in 52 matches.
• Starc is the fastest to 150 and 200 wickets in ODI cricket history. He got to the milestones in his 77^th and 102^nd ODI games respectively.
• He is third on the list for the most wickets in ODI World Cups – 65 in 28 matches. He is also the quickest to 50 wickets in the ODI World Cup, reaching there in 19 games.
• Starc was the player of the tournament when Australia won the ODI World Cup in 2015
• Won the Men’s ODI Player of the Year award in 2022
•  Starc was the highest wicket-taker in ODI World Cups in 2015 and 2019

Mitchell Starc Test records

• He holds the record for the second-fastest fifty in Test cricket by an Australian – 32 balls
• Starc has recorded the fastest delivery in Test cricket – 160.4 kmph which he achieved while bowling to New Zealand’s Ross Taylor in 2015
• Starc has the most wickets in a single edition of an ODI World Cup – 27 in 10 matches in the 2019 edition
• No other bowler has more wickets in pink ball Tests than Starc’s 72 in 13 matches
• Won the Shane Warne Men’s Test Player of the Year Award in 2017
• Starc was the first bowler ever to bowl with a pink ball in 2015

Mitchell Starc T20I records

• Starc has the second-highest wickets among Australian bowlers in T20 World Cup history – 32
• Was the leading wicket-taker for Australia at the 2014 T20 World Cup

Mitchell Starc IPL records

• Starc became the costliest buy ever in the history of IPL when he was picked for a massive Rs 24.75 crore in the 2024 season. The record was later broken by Rishabh Pant in 2025

Mitchell Starc Other international records

• Starc is one of five players to have won an ICC Trophy in all three formats of the game – ODI World Cup, T20 World Cup and the World Test Championship
• He was the leading wicket-taker in the 2015 calendar year with 87 wickets across formats