Symonds in trouble again

Johannesburg: Mercurial allrounder Andrew Symonds may have played just one match in this year's Indian Premier League (IPL), but his presence is already being felt in his team, Deccan Chargers.

Symonds made himself useful in his very first match with an explosive half-century, but his off-field behaviour is causing ire and consternation among his teammates, including captain Adam Gilchrist, his former Australian teammate.

Symonds smashed 60-not-out off 36 balls against Kings' XI Punjab and proved why he is rated such a destructive presence in any middle-order line-up.

However, he is not making much of an effort to fit in at the Deccan Chargers. The temperamental Queenslander has consistently refused to attend 9.30am practice sessions and this hasn't gone down well with other members of the side.

Symonds allegedly claimed that 9.30am is too early and the practice session should be held at a "decent" time. Consequently, practices now start an hour later at 10.30am.

However, the rest of the team isn't happy that a guy who has just come in, whatever his stature might be, is holding the rest to ransom for his own convenience.

The matter has particularly irritated two members of the Indian squad for the Twenty20 World Cup in England, Rohit Sharma and Rudra Pratap Singh, who are members of the Deccan Chargers unit.

Sharma and 'RP', along with the other members of the Indian Twenty20 squad, have been given a training schedule by Indian team physio Nitin Patel to be followed diligently in preparation for the World Cup.

And the Board of Control for Cricket in India has issued a letter to the franchise owners and coaches of the teams of the IPL to be "vigilant on the practice schedule of Indian players selected in the squad for the Twenty20 World Cup".