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If Andrew Symonds walks away from the Australian cricket team he would be welcomed with open arms by the Deccan Chargers in the Indian Premier League.
Watson urges Symonds not to commit to IPL
Chargers chief executive Tim Wright said they would love to have Symonds available for the entire 2009 series, which runs from April 10 to June 1.
“The Deccan Chargers would – as would any IPL team – want Andrew Symonds in from the very first ball of the competition to the very last ball,” he told AAP.
“He would strengthen any Indian Premier League team by his presence.”
Symonds is considering his future in the game after having been sent home from the current one-day series against Bangladesh for disciplinary reasons, and is almost certain to miss next month’s Test tour of India.
The all-rounder is under a three-year $US4.2 million ($A4.94 million) contract with the Hyderabad-based Chargers, who also have Symonds’ retired former Test team mate Adam Gilchrist on their books.
Symonds was available for only the first four games of the inaugural IPL competition earlier this year, averaging 80.5 at a strike rate of more than 150 per 100 balls faced before joining the Australian camp leading into the tour of the West Indies.
The Chargers had a disappointing competition, finishing last of the eight teams with only two wins from 14 games.
However Wright, who has not yet spoken to Symonds or his management over the latest issue, said he would “absolutely not” try to encourage Symonds to leave Australian cricket behind.
“The best thing for the Deccan Chargers would be for Andrew to be enjoying his cricket wherever he is playing it – whether he is playing for Australia or he’s playing for the Deccan Chargers.”
He said it was never the intention of IPL to lure players away from the traditional forms of the game.
“IPL doesn’t stand alone. It’s part of the world game, run through the auspices of the BCCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India), which is part of the ICC. All of our players play within the structure of cricket, if they choose to.
“I grew up reading about Don Bradman and his heroics and the baggy green cap was something that I grew up (respecting),” said English-born Wright.
“From an entirely personal point of view, I’d like to see Andrew Symonds help Deccan Chargers win the Indian Premier League and I’d like to see him star in an Ashes series against England in 2009.”
Wright said whether Symonds chose to leave the Australian team was “entirely a matter for him”.
“I think we have to all be mindful of the amount of cricket the guys are now playing, and the pressure that they’re constantly under.
“We have to be very careful with them and for them.”
Symonds is one of the most expensive players on IPL’s books, and stands to make $US1.3 million ($A1.53 million) for each series, or pro rata if national duties reduce his playing time.
Next year’s 2009 IPL series coincides with a proposed (but not yet finalised) Australian tour of Pakistan, postponed from this year over security worries.
Symonds is contracted to IPL until 2010.
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