Mitchell Starc's confession about Alyssa Healy as wife reacts to $4.4m IPL contract

Mitchell Starc has revealed it was wife Alyssa Healy who actually broke the news to him that he'd snared a record-breaking $4.4m contract in the IPL. The Aussie cricket star scored the biggest deal in IPL history at the auction on Tuesday night, with the Kolkata Knight Riders forking out a staggering $4.42 million (24.75 crore) for his services.

It comes as a huge win for the veteran bowler after his decision to spurn the IPL for the last eight years to spend more time with family and focus on Australia. It is believed Starc has missed out on about $15 million by refusing to be lured by the riches of T20 cricket, opting instead to spend valuable time at home with Healy during the IPL window every year.

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But Starc and Healy were both over the moon to learn of his $4.4m windfall on Tuesday night, with Healy posting a video of herself drinking a beer to celebrate. And Starc revealed that it was actually his wife who broke the news to him because the stream he was watching was delayed. Healy is in India preparing to lead Australia in the women's Test match, and found out the news in real time.

“I’m not sure any words would do it justice, really,“ Starc said in an interview with Star Sports. “Alyssa was over there with the Australian team at the minute, so her coverage was slightly ahead of mine here in Australia. So she sort of saw the numbers before I did, so I was getting the updates through her.

"But, yeah, a fair bit of shock, and certainly excitement with how it was all unfolding. But nothing that I could’ve ever imagined."

Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins hit the jackpot in IPL

Starc's $4.4m payday came after Pat Cummins scored a $3.67 million (20.5 crore) contract with Sunrisers Hyderabad. It was the biggest contract in IPL history at the time, before Starc's blew it out of the water.

Unfortunately for Starc and Cummins' Test and ODI teammate Josh Hazlewood, he went unsold. It sparked some funny reactions on the group's WhatsApp chat.

"The team chat has been going nuts," Starc said. "The are all saying it’s our shout, so we’ll just go about our business and get ready for the next Test match. But a few of our Australian teammates might be waiting for us to treat them. It could be an interesting conversation between the bowling group tomorrow and the gym.”

Starc hasn't played in the IPL since 2015, with injuries and a desire to spend more time at home keeping him away. “It’s been a long time since I played in IPL and have obviously played a fair bit of cricket since then,” he said. “So that experience is there and a little bit of leadership if you like, in terms of the experience side of things in white-ball cricket that hopefully I can bring to bring to KKR as well and play my part there.”

Fellow Aussie bowler Spencer Johnson went to the Gujarat Titans for $1.78 million, while Travis Head will join Cummins at Sunrisers Hyderabad on a $1.22m deal. But the news wasn't so good for Steve Smith, who also went unsold despite producing a number of masterful knocks for the Sydney Sixers in the BBL over the last few years. He's likely to be snapped up at a later date to prepare for the T20 World Cup in the USA and Caribbean in 2024.

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