Mitchell Starc Sues Over $1.5m Injury Payout After Missing Last IPL

Australia speedster Mitchell Starc has decided to take legal actions to get $1.53 million of his Indian Premier League contract paid out after missing out the last season due to an injury. Starc was the second costliest Australian player in the auction for the last season when Kolkata Knight Riders shelled out a whopping amount of $1.8million to secure the left-arm pacer’s services. However, Starc could not even go to India after suffering an injury during the Test series in South Africa just before the IPL.

The injury-prone pacer had suffered a calf complaint in the second Test in Port Elizabeth. In the following Test in Cape Town which was marred by the ball-tampering scandal, he had succumbed to a fracture of his right tibial bone in the third Test in Cape Town. Interestingly, that Test had also cost David Warner and Steve Smith a huge chunk of fortune as they were involved in the ball-tampering fiasco and were not allowed to play the IPL.

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According to a report in Sydney Morning Herald, Starc had put pen to a  policy that would pay him a $1.53 million benefit if he missed the IPL season through injury. The World Cup-winning pacer, who is represented by Mills Oakley lawyers, is suing a syndicate of Lloyd’s of London.

As per the writ, the Australia star paid a premium of $97,920 to be covered between February 27 and March 31 in 2018. On March 10, Starc claims he started feeling pain in his right calf while bowling during the second Test in Port Elizabeth.

“While bowling on uneven footmarks on a worn wicket, the plaintiff suffered a sudden onset of pain in his right calf. The pain worsened over the next few bowling sessions and during the next Test match,” the writ said.

“Ultimately, the injury resulted in the plaintiff missing the final Test match of the tour and him being listed by the Australian Cricketers Association and Cricket Australia as injured by reason of tibial bone stress. The injury that the plaintiff suffered was a grade three tibial injury which involved a fracture in his right tibial bone,” the document added.

The report further claimed that the insurers made Starc to go through full medical tests while a number of exclusions were included in the contract for old injuries.

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“The parties have exchanged correspondence about the plaintiff’s claim which culminated in a final response from the defendant’s representative in the form of an email sent on 22 November 2018,” the writ said. “That email confirmed the defendant’s contention that the plaintiff is not entitled to the total disablement benefit.”

Starc, meanwhile, was released by the Knight Riders after the last season. He had later decided against putting his name in the auction list. The left-arm pacer recently suffered an injury during the Tests against Sri Lanka at home and missed the tour of India and UAE against Pakistan. He is likely to return to action during the IPL.