If you are thinking about placing a few bets on the upcoming tour of Pakistan don’t include Andrew Symonds in the reasoning of your choice as there is doubt that he will be playing any Australian cricket again let alone wearing the baggy green.
There are limited reasons for Andrew Symonds to want to continue playing Australian cricket altogether. After the treatment the media, the Australian Cricket Board and the selectors have given him of late I don’t blame him for setting his sights to the Indian Premier League for his future career.
The way I see it the disregard of Australian cricket Symonds has shown since being snubbed by the ACB and selectors is a giveaway that he has already made up his mind and is set to play in the IPL. He will be earning a cool 1.5 Million over 6 weeks that will make up for the 1 Million dollar share market battering in finance company Storm he took last month.
Playing in the Indian league would see him unable to take part (even if he were selected) in the scheduled ODI series against Pakistan as it conflicts with the IPL games. If he was to play it would be a huge pay cut to play the series with minimal pay compared to the IPL.
He has been quoted in saying that he dislikes all the off-field commitments that international cricket brings and didn’t want to attend majority of them. The IPL off season will allow him the time off that he needs to get away from all the hype of the cricket world.
Some analysts estimate Symonds only has 18 months left in his international playing career. Taking this into account he would have to consider whether to play the 18 months with Australia, retire from cricket (..and go fishing) or extend his cricket career and preserve his knee injury playing in the IPL for years to come, like Shane Warne, Adam Gilchrist and Glen McGrath are all doing.
The all rounder is a huge icon in India after the controversy of the Australia V India tests in 2008. He has plenty of support from millions of fans in India and sponsorship deals to last years. He is perfectly suited to the Twenty20 form of the game holding an excellent batting average of 56. Backed up with a strike rate of 23 with his medium paced deliveries and a super accurate throwing arm in the field.
