Symonds should stay with his team
Amid talks of Andrew Symonds quitting international cricket and depending on the Indian Premier League (IPL) for his livelihood, IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said that players who take premature retirement do not have any place in the tournament.
Symonds, who plays for Deccan Chargers in the IPL, is the highest-paid foreign player, on a contract worth $1.47 million a year.
Modi made it clear that Symonds should keep playing international cricket because he is not interested in retired talent.
“I would advise him to stay on with his country. It’s very important to be playing for your country,” Modi was quoted as saying in a newspaper on Tuesday.
“We need players who are playing international cricket. We don’t need a whole bunch of retired cricketers in the tournament. Cricket Australia has the right to refuse that he plays in the IPL for two years after retirement.”
The national boards secured a clause during initial negotiations with the tournament’s organisers that they be allowed to block their players from playing in the IPL for two years after they retire - to prevent premature retirement by players chasing the big money.
CA’s general manager of operations Michael Brown said the prospect of blocking Symonds “has not been contemplated”. But Symonds is angry at the punishment imposed by the team’s leadership group - to send him home from Darwin after missing a meeting - and it will take time to mend some relationships.
If Symonds threatens to retire, CA would then need to look at the two-year clause. Brown reiterated CA wanted Symonds back, in the right frame of mind.
“All of us want him back in the team. Andrew is an outstanding player.”
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