Cricket World Mourns the Loss of Legendary Australian All-rounder Andrew Symonds
Andrew Symonds, who died in a car accident in Australia on 14th May 2022, was a world-class all-rounder whose best years came before the advent of the Indian T20 League, where his skills fetched him the second-biggest fee ($1.35 million) at the very first auction. He was part of two World Cup-winning Australia teams (2003 and 2007) and a key member of the Deccan team that won the Indian T20 League in 2009.
Born in England with West Indian and Scandinavian roots, Symonds was adopted by an Australian couple and moved there as a toddler. Both his parents taught at schools in Queensland, where his once-in-a-generation hitting and versatile bowling – he could take wickets with both medium pace and off-spin – quickly got noticed. Though he had the option of playing for England and the West Indies, it was Australia that he chose, and he began his career against Pakistan in 1998.
Andrew Symonds was a throwback to an earlier, more relaxed era, and some of his coaches had issues with his discipline, resulting in far fewer appearances in his early 20s than his natural talent might have merited. His breakthrough moment was undoubtedly in Australia’s opening match of the 2003 World Cup, as Australia limped to 86 for 4 against Pakistan. In a match where only one other batter (Ricky Ponting with 53) crossed the 40-run mark, Symonds smashed 143 not out off just 125 balls. Australia went through the tournament unbeaten, a feat they repeated in the Caribbean four years later. Undoubtably, he would have been a fantasy cricket favorite everytime he played.
In the 2003 final against India, he had figures of 2-7. Four years later, Andrew Symonds made 23* and bowled the final ball as Australia beat Sri Lanka to clinch a hat-trick of World Cup wins. In the ODI arena, he was one of the greats, finishing with 5088 runs and 133 wickets in 198 matches.
Once Ponting became captain, Symonds made the Test squad too and was good enough to score Test centuries against both India and England. When Australia went on a record-equalling 16-match winning streak in Tests between December 2005 and January 2008, Symonds played in 12 of the matches.
For the wrong reasons, though, that hundred against India in Sydney would always define his career. After Steve Bucknor missed an obvious caught-behind decision against him on his way to 162*, the two teams had a heated argument. At one point, it was alleged that Harbhajan had called Symonds a “monkey,” a charge the Indians vigorously denied.
It would take the two men years to patch things up, but they became fast friends when they were Mumbai teammates in the Indian T20 League in 2011. “Well, obviously we have a lot of history,” said Harbhajan, a brand ambassador of Howzat fantasy app, paying tribute to a man who became more of a friend than a rival. “Thanks to the Indian T20 Fantasy League and the Mumbai team for putting both of us together in one dressing room. Once I got to know him, such a lovely human being he was.”
“We became very good friends, we used to laugh, share a lot of stories and he was someone I could call at 2:30 a.m. in the morning and say, 'Hey mate, what are you up to? Let's meet,' and he would be up for it. I was so shocked when I woke up in the morning and saw my phone, I was shattered to see Andrew is no more,” he said further.
After his playing days, Symonds – who deeply regretted not going to university – became a popular and engaging commentator, using his experience of playing at the highest level to communicate technical and tactical nuances to the viewers in simple terms.
