More bad news for embarrassed Aussies as Mitchell Starc makes telling call on T20 return

White-ball king Mitchell Starc won't be answering an SOS from national cricket selectors as Australia picks through the ruins of its disastrous T20 World Cup campaign and begins planning a rebuild. After a campaign in which just about everything that could go wrong for the Aussies did go wrong, the world's No.3 ranked T20 side – somewhat fittingly – bowed out when the group match between Zimbabwe and Ireland in Kandy was abandoned due to rain without a ball being bowled.

Mitch Marsh's men needed Ireland to win to have any chance of reaching the knockout stages but will instead take on lowly Oman in a dead rubber on Saturday (AEDT) before flying home with their tails between their legs. Career obituaries are already being written for a host of players on the back of a campaign that has so far yielded one win from three games on top of a 3-0 series loss to Pakistan in a pre-Cup warm-up series.

While the rest of 2026 is, at this stage, fairly light on for international T20 cricket, the national team will undergo major surgery ahead of a big 2028 that will see Australia in Los Angeles for cricket's return to the Olympics before co-hosting the next T20 World Cup with New Zealand. Starc, one of the world's premier bowlers in any format, would be the first bowler picked in Australia's T20 line-up, particularly given the Aussies' lack of potency on display at this World Cup (just 13 wickets taken in three games).

Mitchell Starc happily retired from international T20 cricket

But the veteran left-armer has no intention of rescinding his decision and will continue to concentrate on one-day and Test cricket in the hope of playing into his late 30s. Speaking pre-tournament in his role as an ambassador for Prime Video, Starc told Yahoo Sport Australia: "There is certainly no FOMO or keenness to get out there (in this T20 World Cup).

"I actually quite enjoy the periods where I can put some time back in my body. I'm 36 now and got to a point where something had to give a little bit.

"At the back end of summers I've felt pretty depleted on the physical side of things so I'm using this time as a sort of pre-season where I can put some time back into my body. I still prefer the one-day World Cup over the T20 World Cup and, if I'm good enough, I'm confident of getting to '27 (ODI World Cup) and trying to play a part in that one."

While he won't be seen on the international T20 stage again, Starc will line up for the Delhi Capitals in this year's Indian Premier League. The Capitals will be hoping to bounce back from a fifth place last season that saw them miss out on qualifying for the four-team IPL playoffs.

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