Top five controversies in Andrew Symonds' cricketing career

The world woke up to a shocking piece of news on Sunday as the former Australian cricketer, Andrew Symonds died in a car crash on 14^th May, 2022. The legendary Australian all-rounder was the passenger in the accident which took place outside Townsville, Queensland.

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In a statement, Queensland police said: "Police are investigating a single-vehicle crash in Hervey Range, around 50 kilometers from Townsville that's taken the life of a 46-year-old man last night.

For the unversed, Andrew Symonds was part of the Australian Cricket Team which won two World Cups in 2003 and 2007. He enjoyed an illustrious international cricket career. Symonds played 26 Tests and 198 ODIs for Australia. He scored 5088 runs in ODIs at an average of 39.8 and 1462 runs in Tests at an average of 40.6.

However, apart from his heroics on the field, Symonds had also been involved in a number of controversies. He is widely remembered for the infamous “Monkeygate” scandal in 2008. On that note, we take a look at the top five controversies in Andrew Symonds’ career.

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1. Monkey Gate incident

The second Test of the four-match Test series during India’s Tour of Australia in 2008 saw Andrew Symonds notching his career-best score in Test Cricket. He played a sensational knock of 162 runs in just 226 deliveries, including 18 fours and 2 sixes. However, that Test match was also remembered for the Monkey-Gate incident.

During that match, he was involved in a lengthy race row with Harbhajan Singh. Andrew Symonds accused Harbhajan for calling him a ‘monkey’ during the Test match. It sparked a huge controversy and Harbhajan Singh also faced a one-match ban.

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2. When Andrew Symonds was sent back home during an ongoing series against Bangladesh

Andrew Symonds was a live-wire on the field, however, he had varied interests apart from cricket as well. He was, indeed a larger-than-life character. He made headlines in 2008 during an ODI series against Bangladesh. During the series, Symonds went for fishing when he was told to attend the team meeting.

Then vice-captain, Michael Clarke didn’t like the behavior and after talking to the management, Symonds was sent back home. It sparked a huge controversy as Symonds and Clarke were great friends. Years later, however, Symonds revealed that the hefty amount of INR 5.40 crores he received from Deccan Chargers in the Indian T20 League might have ruined his relationship with Clarke.

3. Alcohol Issues:

Apart from being a great all-rounder, Symonds was also known to be an alcoholic. Ahead of the tri-series match against Bangladesh in 2005 in Cardiff, Andrew Symonds had consumed too much alcohol. Due to the same, he was dropped from the side and, thus didn’t play the game. Andrew Symonds, obviously, didn’t like the decision but the team management decided to do that in view of the best interest of the team.

4. Dropped from the team ahead of the 20-20 World Cup in 2009 due to disciplinary issues

Andrew Symonds was never the guy who would obey the rules and instructions and not have all the fun in life. However, he had to pay the prize for that as well. In 2009, Symonds was accused of a significant disciplinary breach in the Australian side. He was also dropped from the Twenty20 International (T20I) squad and was sent home midway through the ICC 20-20 World Cup in 2009.

5. Fought with a man in a Pub:

Andrew Symonds often made headlines for picking up fights off the field. In the year 2008, the media showed his dark side when the fans got to know that he beat a man in a pub, who came to him to have a picture with him. Apparently, that man was trying to hug him and it didn’t like Symonds one bit.