In recent developments, Australia pacer Mitchell Starc could lose his IPL payout of $1.53 million after the opposition lawyers claimed that the leg-injury which ruled him out of the 2018 season was not sudden or unexpected.
In the 11th edition of the cash-rich league, Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) bought Starc for $1.8 million in the auctions. However, the speedster was unable to play any game for the franchise due to his injury, which he sustained during Australia’s tour of South Africa.
Starc had then filed a lawsuit in the Victorian County Court against a syndicate of Lloyd’s of London – the long-running insurance market, where one can opt for coverage against unique circumstances that would not be available with traditional insurers.
A civil trial which was listed for March 30 has now been postponed until June 17. The hearing will be held before only a judge and is expected to last for three days.
Lloyd’s of London’s lawyers denied that the Aussie bowler suffered a bodily injury within the meaning of the policy on March 10. They believed that Starc’s injury was a result of the accumulation of a series of accidents and/or traumas that occurred before March 10.
“Prior to March 10, 2018, the plaintiff placed and accumulated stress upon his right tibial bone by … training for and playing in the first Test … held on 1 to March 5, 2018, training for the second Test … and playing in the first day of the second Test,” the defence stated as quoted by The Sydney Morning Herald.
The KKR team-management eventually released Starc in November 2018. The 30-year-old did not feature in the last edition to prepare for the 2019 ODI World Cup held in England and Wales in June-July.
