Mitchell Starc has said the unthinkable — he gives the IPL a miss so that he can play 100 Tests.

The IPL, with its cash bonanza, is a dream for almost all players across the globe. T20s drive the game’s economy in modern-day cricket and cricketers mostly try to prioritise the shortest format at some point in their career, even giving up national contracts. The examples are many.

But here’s Starc, delivering a bouncer to conventional wisdom.

“To choose not to do certain things to prolong playing for Australia, I’ve tried to be smart about that,” Starc told cricket.com.au.

“Yeah, the money’s nice, but I’d love to play 100 Test matches. Whether I get there or not, I don’t know, but that would be a nice one to tick off. Hopefully, there’s a little bit left in me,” the Aussie speedster said.

Starc, who has played two seasons — 2014 and 2015 — in the IPL for Royal Challengers Bangalore, will be playing his 78th Test for Australia when he takes the field at The Oval on Wednesday, in the WTC final against India. So far, he has 306 Test wickets to boast of.

The left-arm pacer looked back at his journey and said: “To play three formats for over 10 years, it’s been a lot of pain along the way, but I’m grateful I’ve gotten that far. Whilst I’ve tried to add to the bow, as soon as I lose air speed, there’s going to be someone chasing me... I’m sure I’ll know when I know.”

With the backdrop of a Test championship final, Starc’s approach to cricket comes with a unique swing, one that moves away from the T20 crowd.