Australian pacer Mitchell Starc opened up about his decision to not return to India for the remainder of the IPL 2025 season once it resumed after a brief suspension.

The cash-rich league was suspended for about a week due to India-Pakistan military conflict following the Pahalgam terror attack and the subsequent Operation Sindoor.

However, a ceasefire was announced and hence, the organizers took the call to resume the tournament on May 17.

While some of the overseas players rejoined their respective IPL teams, a few of them decided against coming to India and Starc was one of them.

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, Starc said that he had his concerns and questions, and he felt it best not to make the trip to India for the remaining IPL fixtures.

The left-arm quick, who was part of the Delhi Capitals squad, further stated that he took a similar decision for the ICC Men's Champions Trophy 2025, which was played in Pakistan and Dubai.

Australia played all their Champions Trophy matches in Pakistan, apart from the semi-final against India.

"I’m comfortable with my decision and how I felt about the whole situation and how it was handled. That’s why I made my decision post-that, and my focus changed to red-ball cricket for about a week prior to coming over here. Time will tell with repercussions or how it looks with guys that didn’t return. But I’ve had my questions and concerns leading into that game, and obviously, we saw what happened, which played a part in my decision," Starc said.

"There was a little bit of that to my decision around the Champions Trophy in Pakistan. And then once the tournament was delayed you start to think about guys’ preparation for the Test match," he added.

As cross-border tensions between India and Pakistan escalated, the IPL 2025 match between Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings in Dharamsala on May 8 was called off after just 10.1 overs of play.

The turn of events triggered panic among the overseas players of all teams and Starc, who was part of the DC playing Xi, experienced it all from the close quarters.

The BCCI promptly arranged a special train to evacuate players, support staff members, commentators and broadcast crew from the region. Starc and his wife, Alyssa Healy, flew back to Australia immediately once the tournament was suspended.

"Things were handled differently for different players and different teams, the guys up in Dharamsala, the Punjab guys were part of that, and while both teams had similar experiences up there, all those guys returned for Punjab, and Jake Fraser-McGurk and I chose not to. So it was a very individual decision, and I’m happy to live with whatever comes of that," said Starc.

The veteran fast bowler made it clear that he remains committed to the franchise. “I’m still heavily committed to the Delhi group, and I’m not someone that’s gone into tournaments and pulled out after being picked up in an auction or whatever that looks like. These are different circumstances," said Starc.

“It was more a question of not having enough information leading into making a decision about things of that degree. I had a discussion back home, then came to a decision, and whatever comes from that, I’m comfortable with that, and we move forward," he added.