Symonds stunned by IPL offer

Andrew Symonds' popularity in India since the racism row is anybody's guess and the Australian himself admitted he did not expect to land a staggering USD 1.35 million deal in the Indian Premier League.

Symonds shares a stormy relation with the Indian crowd and was subjected to monkey chants when Australia toured India for a one-day series last year.

Things subsequently turned worse in the Sydney Test where Symonds accused Harbhajan Singh of racially abusing him, an allegation that threatened to rip apart the cricket world with the Indian Cricket Board threatening to pull out of the tour.

The all-rounder, however, was taken aback after learning that the Hyderabad franchisee of the IPL has bought him for a huge USD 1.35 million, higher than any of his teammates and second only to Mahendra Singh Dhoni (USD 1.5 million).

Quite amused by the deal, Symonds said, "If I could tell you why that would probably be quite a good news story, but there is no sort of logical sense to what each player's worth ... I can't see a pattern."

Incidentally, his captain Ricky Ponting went for much less, USD 400,000, to Kolkata, while Brett Lee, arguably the most popular Australian cricketer in India, managed USD 900,000 from the Mohali team.

Symonds admitted he had no clue as to what drove the bidders and could offer no explanation for the huge difference between his deal and that of Ponting.

"That's quiet amazing how that's unfolded. Unfortunately it's got nothing to do with me but that just the way things turned out," Symonds was quoted as saying by 'Herald Sun'.

He also refused to call himself a cricket mercenary.

"That's what they offered to pay for me, I didn't ask for it," he said.

The teams, owned by a variety of Indian-based companies, will compete for a first prize of $3 million (euro2.05 million) in 59 matches over 44 days. That surpasses the $1.9 million (euro1.3 million) prize India collected by winning last year's inaugural World Twenty20 championship in South Africa.