Cricket

Australia planning India tour sans Symonds

Australia coach Tim Nielsen is working on a plan to deal with the feisty all-rounder’s absence in the forthcoming India tour.

After Symonds was sent home for missing a compulsory team meeting, when he went fishing instead, Nielsen said he could not assume that the all-rounder would be part of the squad in India.

“I don’t think we can at the moment, I don’t think we can bank on much at all at the moment,” Nielsen was quoted as saying.

“The only thing we can bank on is providing as much support as we possibly can for him (Symonds) to make the right decision for him and for us, to come back into the group 100 per cent committed,’ he said.

“I don’t know if Roy (Symonds) would understand or know how long it’s going to take. I certainly don’t,” Nielsen added.

Australia will announce its touring squad soon as they play the Border-Gavaskar Trophy in India in October and Nielsen said Symonds’ absence would have ramifications on the team’s planning for the four-match series.

“Oh yeah, we’ve lost out No 6 batsman and our all-rounder in the Test team for the short-term, so for sure,” he said.

Tags: Andrew Symmonds, andrew symonds, Australia, Border-Gavaskar Trophy, India, Tim Nielsen