"Mitch didn’t want to be there playing cricket" - Mitchell Starc's wife reveals why the pacer wished to skip Border-Gavaskar Trophy

Mitchell Starc's wife Alyssa Healy has disclosed that the left-arm pacer wanted to spend quality time with his father instead of playing cricket last summer.

The pacer's father, Paul, was suffering from cancer. Hence, Mitchell Starc desired to stay with him at home, but Paul convinced the speedster to don the Baggy Green in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy against India.

Unfortunately, Paul passed away due to cancer earlier this year in February. Just three months before that, India landed in Australia to compete with the hosts in all three formats of the game. Mitchell was reluctant to play due to personal reasons, but represented the Aussies upon his father's request.

In a chat with 7Cricket earlier today, Mitchell's wife Alyssa Healy said:

"Mitch didn’t want to be there playing cricket. He wanted to be sitting next to his Dad, and spending the last three months that he could possibly have with his Dad. Paul didn’t want that, he wanted Mitch to go out there, play for Australia and wear his baggy green with pride."

Despite his father's critical condition, Mitchell Starc joined the Australian squad and played all four Tests in the series. However, his performance was not up to the mark as the left-arm pacer scalped 11 wickets in the series, with eight of them coming in the first two matches.

Mitchell Starc copped a lot of flak for bowling the way he did last summer: Alyssa Healy

As mentioned earlier, Mitchell Starc's performance did not meet expectations. After Australia lost the Test series 1-2, quite a few fans slammed the left-arm fast bowler. However, they had no idea of what was happening in Starc's personal life back then.

"To have to deal with what was going on behind the scenes and play Test cricket on the biggest arena is not easy. Mitch copped a lot of flak for bowling the way he did last summer but those people who were laying into him had no concept of what was going on behind the scene," Alyssa Healy added.

Mitchell Starc has been named in the Australian squad for the ICC T20 World Cup 2021. The 31-year-old will be keen to help his nation win their maiden T20 World Cup title.