Symonds retires from all forms of cricket

Former Australian allrounder Andrew Symonds one of the games highly talented but maverick players on Thursday announced his retirement from all forms of professional cricket bringing an end to a career marked by controversies and disciplinary breaches The 36yearold Symonds a temperamental and colourful personality whose racial row with Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh made headlines in 2008 cited family reasons for his decision to quit cricket He would not be playing for his IPL side Mumbai Indians this season as he was quitting competitive cricket in the wake of the impending birth of his first child Andrew Symonds with Harbhajan Singh during IPL IV PicAFP He has not played for Australia since being sent home from the Twenty20 World Cup in England three years ago but has turned out for several domestic sides and clubs in limitedovers cricket and Twenty20 leagues Effective immediately I am retiring from all forms of professional cricket Symonds said It is with regret that I will not be able to fulfil my final year of the IPL with the Mumbai Indians Mumbai Indians and the IPL have both been very supportive of me but the impending arrival of my first child is a priority he said Symonds made his first class debut in 199495 before playing his first ODI in November 1998 against Pakistan in Lahore He scored 5088 runs from 198 ODIs at an average of 3975 before retiring in 2009 The burly allrounder made his Test debut in March 2004 against Sri Lanka and scored 1462 runs from 26 matches at an average of 4061 before playing his last match against South Africa in December 2008 He has 24 and 133 wickets in Test and ODI cricket respectively Mumbai Indians acknowledged the utility of Symonds in the teams winning campaign in the Champions League Twenty20 last year Andrew Symonds was an integral part of Mumbai Indians in season four as well as our Champions League winning team He was a great team player and the youngsters always looked upto him for guidance We appreciate and respect his decision and wish him very best in all his future endeavors Mumbai Indians spokesperson said Symonds had been the controversys favourite child with both his teammates and opponents facing the brunt of his onyourface attitude He was involved in a bitter racial row with Harbhajan Singh during the Sydney Test in January 2008 which almost threatened an abrupt end of Indias Test tour of Australia Cricket Australia had to deal with his impulsive ways of Symonds when he went fishing in Darwin when he should have been at a team meeting in the leadup to an ODI series against Bangladesh Symonds was sent home from the series and not picked for the tour of India in late 2008 He was rushed back to Australia and was involved in a pub scuffle while celebrating the first Test win and he appeared in three more matches before undergoing knee surgery A radio interview in which he targeted New Zealands Brendon McCullum was a factor in him being banned for the South Africa tour A breaking of team drinking rules led to his exit from the squad in England on the eve of the 2009 Twenty20 World Cup and he found his Cricket Australia contract being cancelled He retired from Test cricket to become a freelance Twenty20 specialist playing for Queensland Deccan Chargers and Surrey before joining Mumbai Indians