Mitchell Starc wants to postpone surgery for World T20 participation

For several months Mitchell Starc has been suffering from ankle spurs

Mitchell Starc, who suffered stress fracture in his right foot during the day-night Test between Australia and New Zealand, has plans of delaying his surgery scheduled for later this year. The Australian pacer wants to play the two-match Test series against New Zealand in February and also the World T20 in March.

According to a report on ESPNcricinfo, the 25-year-old said, “The foot won't rule me out for rest of summer, so no point doubling up and missing extra time with surgery. Once I get home I will talk to the medical staff and map it out and see what it looks like. I will let the bone heal for now. I will be in the boot for three or four weeks and reassess then. There is no point putting a time stamp on it until the bone heals.”

Starc has been suffering from ankle spurs for some time now. After the recent Perth Test, he needed cortisone injections. Talking about his recent injury, the bowler said, “It has been going okay so it is frustrating that this has come up. I felt it crack that last ball. You never know when these things will pull up. The ankle has probably been in an okay place - it hasn't stopped me bowling or anything like that - and now the foot has popped up. It's frustrating, but there's not much I can do about it now.”

Talking about the surgery he said, “Depending on how much damage is in there and how much bone is broken off, that sort of thing, and whether there's more spurs or not, it's something I'll look at down the track. It's not something that I'm looking at doing right now.”

Despite his injury, the cricketer came out to bat for Australia at Adelaide. Though skipper Steven Smith said it was the pacer’s decision, Starc had another story. He said, “Well the spinners were on, so he asked if I'd go out there and have a slog. I thought that might change when they took the spinner off but it ended up that I went out there. While the Marshes were out there, I was quite comfortable out on the couch in the back just watching - still nervous but watching. But things happened pretty quickly and I had to get the pads on. It was an interesting little period of play but glad we got over the line.”

If Starc does get his surgery done after the World T20, it could mean that he misses the 2016 edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) which will be a big blow for his franchise Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB).