The cricketing world was taken by shock in May 2022 when former Australian all-rounder Andrew Symonds was announced dead after a tragic car accident. The entire fraternity was grieving for weeks to come as he passed away suddenly and we must say, it was way before his time. However, the man had achieved a lot in the sport he loved during his time at the top.
We want to continue to cherish some of the best moments of his cricketing career and today, we’re throwing back to the day he announced himself at the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the first year of this T20 tournament in India. We’re taking you back to IPL 2008 where Symonds was playing for the now defunct Deccan Chargers and produced one of the finest IPL knocks of all time…
Andrew Symonds’ IPL century
It was the evening of 24th April 2008 this was IPL 2008 Match 9 at the Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium in Uppal, Hyderabad. Rajasthan Royals won the toss and elected to field first on the day, and Adam Gilchrist walked out to bat with the Chargers’ captain VVS Laxman. Both were dismissed with scores of less than 20, while Shahid Afridi batting at number #3 also got only 10(4) after a short cameo.
Symonds batting at number #4 stitched up a good partnership with Rohit Sharma and the good part about it was that the run rate was consistently on the higher side. Symonds was the dominating partner during this run stand and he kept smashing it all around the park even after Rohit was dismissed for 36(30).
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He got to his fifty in just 29 balls but he went at double the pace from there on, bringing up his century in just 47 deliveries, and continuing even after getting to this personal milestone. Symonds was always known for is big hitting and here, he managed to get 11 boundaries and as many as 7 sixes in this innings, helping Chargers get up to 214/5 in their 20 overs.
Symonds also got his first entry into the IPL centuries list (which also remained his only entry), also being just the third batsman overall to get to three figures in this tournament after Brendon McCullum and Mike Hussey. He ended with 117(53)* and this will always be remembered as one of the most ferocious batting innings in the history of the IPL, but one that unfortunately went in vain.
Scored a century but lost the match (IPL):
2008 – A Symonds
2010 – Y Pathan
2011 – S Tendulkar
2013 – S Watson
2014 – W Saha
2016 – V Kohli, S Smith
2017 – H Amla (x2)
2018 – R Pant
2019 – S Samson, KL Rahul, A Rahane
2020 – M Agarwal#IPL2020 #RRvKXIP— FoMA Ramteke (@fomaramteke) September 27, 2020
From the Rajasthan bowlers, Yusuf Pathan and Shane Warne picked up 2 wickets each and then, Yusuf decided to bring his A-game with the bat as well. He smashed 61(28) batting at number #3 for the Royals and once he got out, the captain Shane Warne decided to take over, playing a perfect and very timely cameo of 22(9)* to get them over the line, securing a 3-wicket win with just the one ball to spare.
Pathan won the Man of the Match award and Shahid Afridi’s 3/28 also went in vain in this game. IPL 2008 was the first edition of this tournament after the inaugural T20 World Cup in 2007. Symonds had made a reputation for himself as a big hitter and his massive price tag of $1.35 million from the IPL 2008 Auction was proved to be worth the money int his game against the Royals, and many future games too.
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