Mitchell Starc, the Australian pacer playing for the Delhi Capitals, was among the few international players who chose not to head back to India following the recent Indo-Pak conflict at the border.

This situation led the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to pause the Indian Premier League (IPL) for a few days, allowing overseas players the chance to return home. While the majority of players made their way back to rejoin their teams as the T20 league kicked off again, Starc opted out of returning.

The Australian bowler, who played a crucial role in DC's impressive performance during the first half of the season, expressed that he had no regrets about his decision to stay away from India for the rest of the campaign.

"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," said Starc.

Starc also disclosed that his decision was influenced by Australia's final preparations for the World Test Championship.

"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.

It's important to note that Josh Hazlewood, who plays alongside Starc on the Australian team and is also part of the WTC final squad, chose to head back to India. He decided to join the Royal Challengers Bengaluru for the rest of their campaign, and they ended up winning the tournament!

"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.

"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.