Although Symonds avoided going into detail, he admitted money played a part in ‘poisoning’ his relationship with Clarke.
Former Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds has opened up about his fallout with ex-teammate Michael Clarke. The duo have played a lot of cricket together and were known to share a great bond. However, their relationship hit a rock bottom towards the end of Symonds’ international career and the veteran reckons it could be due to the money he received in the Indian Premier League (IPL).
“We got closer. When he (Clarke) came into the team, I used to bat a lot with him. So when he came to the side, I really took care of him. He made a bond,” Symonds told Brett Lee in the Brett Lee podcast, as quoted by Fox Sports
“Money does funny things. It’s a good thing but it can be a poison and I reckon it may have poisoned our relationship. I’ve got enough respect for him to probably not go into detail about what was said. My friendship with him is no longer and I’m comfortable with that, but I’m not gonna sit here and start slinging mud,” Symonds said further.
Meanwhile, Clarke has been pretty vocal about Symonds’s unprofessional behavior. He had even revealed an instance when the all-rounder turned up drunk for a match. “Andrew Symonds went on TV to criticize my leadership. I’m sorry, but he is not a person to judge anyone on leadership,” Clarke wrote in his 2015 Ashes Diary.
“This is a guy who turned up drunk to play for his country. It’s pretty rich for him to be throwing rocks,” he added. Despite all this, Clarke said the fallout with Symonds “killed” him.
