Former India captain Sourav Ganguly shared his views when he was asked about the uncertainty surrounding speedster Mitchell Starc’s availability for the start of IPL 2026. Delhi Capitals also shared at the press conference that they are waiting for a green signal from Cricket Australia as well.
And this, Ganguly said while in Delhi for a brand endorsement for Jakson, “It hurts… because when quality players don’t come in at the last minute, it shakes the balance of the team.”
However, Mitchell Starc is all set to miss the initial phase of the season as Cricket Australia carefully manages his workload ahead of a full 2026-27 calendar. The timing could not be worse as franchises build their teams and strategies around marquee overseas players as well.
“Workload management is very important because players do play a lot of cricket” – Sourav Ganguly
Ganguly, while speaking on the broader issue of player availability in franchise cricket, said that the impact of such late withdrawals is far greater in the IPL than in international cricket as well.
“It hurts because I’ve always said making an Indian team is easier than making an IPL team. Because the best players are available all the time to be picked. IPL is 10 teams that players get distributed. And when quality players don’t come in at the last minute, obviously it shakes up the balance of the team,” he said again.
“Because the substitutes, the availability is not as strong as the one who’s not turned up… But in IPL if Mitchell Starc misses out or Pathirana misses out, the void is very hard to fill. So that’s one of the challenges,” Sourav Ganguly concluded. “Workload management is very important because players do play a lot of cricket. It’s not just the IPL… more than physical, the mental part takes over. Away from home, away from families. It’s never easy. So it’s a balance which will continue to happen.”
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