Rivalry with Indians will persist in IPL: Symonds

Gaurav Kalra: There has been a lot of talks about who has got the right team and who has got the wrong team. There has been a lot of dancing here but people are worried about the cricket teams itself. Some people think that it is given now that the Deccan Chargers will win the tournament. Look at the top four - Adam Gilchrist, Shahid Afridi, Herchell Gibbs and Andrew Symonds. You can score 250 in a 20-20 over game.

Andrew Symonds: It is a game - a new format. And as we have all seen it - the game changes very quickly - it goes from attacking to defending

very quickly. So, we have going to try and find a method that is successful for us to sort of win games. I think, probably we are a stronger batting side at the moment than bowling but in T20 even your best bowlers can fail and best batsmen can get knocked out. So, it is necessary to try and find a balance.

Gaurav Kalra: You talk about the team a little bit. There are some old friends - VVS Laxman for instance, he made a very public comment that you are a very good friend of his because of your Under-19 days. That must be interesting to play with someone like Laxman, you would have never thought would be a teammate. He has tormented you as an Australian for many years.

Andrew Symonds: Yes! I played against Laxman since I was 18 years old. We played against him, actually here in Hyderabad and he was hard to get out even then. He scored a lot of runs in that series. Ever since, I have come across him all over the world. It is nice to now be a teammate to someone who has played cricket against for nearly 15 years.

Gaurav Kalra: And is it ok that he is the captain?

Andrew Symonds: Ya, he can have that job.

Gaurav Kalra: Looking a little bit about the IPL in itself. There has been a lot of talks around the world - whether it is good for the game, bad for

the game, too much cricket, not how it benefit cricketers. Elaborate on where you stand on this IPL concept.

Andrew Symonds: To me it is fairly simple. The IPL and the Cricket board in Australia had an agreement where they said that the T20 can be played and find a time in the year where everyone is available.

Gaurav Kalra: Can I bring some of the criticism to you? A lot of criticism about players saying that 'we are tired as there is a lot of cricket

around and suddenly this thing comes up and everyone jumps and says that we want to play. Is that something you are aware of? How do you justify that criticism?

Andrew Symonds: The amount of cricket the players are playing is fairly extreme but then people are getting paid very well to play that amount of cricket. But still I think that they have got to be very careful. But we should not exhaust the game that is probably the biggest fears. We might end up playing too much and the people might stop coming to watch.

Gaurav Kalra: There is talk that the international calendar needs to be re-adjusted and the space need to be found out for the IPL. Perhaps it is

one of the answers, reducing amount of international cricket you play so that you can play more league like this. Maybe something like this will come up in Australia or in England and the players might be able to express themselves in the domestic circuit more.

Andrew Symonds: Yes, possibly. But it is difficult. There is a lot of egos and a lot of pride involved in who should be playing here and who should be playing there where the cricket is being played. So, it is really going to take a really level-headed and sensible decision making from players in world

cricket, so that everybody can get on and no one steps in anyone else's toes.

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