Mitchell Starc blocked from playing in IPL 2026 due to Cricket Australia's policy

Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins have returned to action through the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL) with their respective franchises, while another Australian star pacer, Mitchell Starc, is yet to play his first match in IPL 2026 with the Delhi Capitals (DC). After the horror show against the Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) at the Arun Jaitley Stadium, DC captain Axar Patel provided updates on Starc’s availability.

Speaking after DC’s loss against the defending champion, DC skipper informed that the Aussie quick Mitchell Starc has joined them and received the required No Objection Certificate (NOC) as well for the IPL 2026 season. From the next month, Mitchell Starc is expected to play for the Delhi-based franchise. However, Mitchell Starc's participation will remain subject to workload management.

When will Mitchell Starc be available to play for the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2026?

“Yes, Mitchell Starc has joined. He has got the NOC from the 1st, so he can play after that. His workload is being monitored. Whenever he is available, we will look to play him,” Axar Patel said during the post-match press conference.

Against the home team, Delhi Capitals, RCB pacer Josh Hazelwood was blazing all guns, same as Bhuvneshwar Kumar. With these two pacers on top of their form, RCB reduced DC to 9 for 6. Inside the fourth over of the first innings of the match, the Delhi Capitals surprisingly lost their 6 batters and recorded only 13 runs in the powerplay, the lowest total ever recorded in the powerplay in IPL history.

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A night to forget for the Delhi Capitals

The team that had scored 264 runs in 20 overs in their previous match was bowled out for only 75 runs. Abishek Porel and David Miller had offered some resistance against the fiery bowling attack of RCB, but that too was not enough to take Delhi to a respectable total. While Porel got 30 off 33, for Miller it was 19 off 18.

Josh Hazlewood was named as the Player of the Match for his 4/12 bowling figure in 3.3 overs. During his spell, the pacer dismissed KL Rahul, Nitish Rana, Sameer Rizvi, and Abishek Porel. His bowling partner, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, clinched the wickets of debutant Sahil Parakh, Tristan Stubbs, and Axar Patel. Kumar took those three wickets in 3 overs for an economy rate of 1.67.

Hazlewood and Kumar displayed poetry in motion vs DC

The pacer duo of RCB displayed class and well-controlled bowling during their respective spells. With proper homework, they delivered according to the plans against the respective batters. To dismiss the debutant opener, Parakh, Hazlewood launched a pinpoint yorker, and to get rid of Rana, he delivered a short-pitched ball.

With the new ball in hand, both of the experienced pacers were able to move the ball in both ways and achieved success. The steaming deliveries through the corridor of uncertainty did the rest of the work. The deliveries just outside of the off stump, shaping away from the batters, got the edges.

RCB needed only 6.3 overs to claim the target total, which was 76. After the stunning defeat, the Delhi Capitals are now 7^th in the points table with 3 wins in 8 games.

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