Even as Harbhajan Singh faced an army of cameras in New Delhi, his old nemesis Andrew Symonds spent the entire afternoon in the run-down basement of a city hotel. Since he was part of Deccan Chargers’ promotional video shoot on his last day in India before he went home for national duty, there were a couple of cameras focused on him — but the media attention was certainly missing.

The man with a recent history of ugly spats with the Indians isn’t in a mood to add his bit to the highly-sensitive Mohali affair as he jokes with the film crew who want another retake of his bare-chested shot. He speaks, instead, of how he goes back home wiser about India after a fruitful fortnight, time enough to give him a better understanding of the local culture and the dressing room atmosphere. “I am much better off after coming here and playing in India,” he says about this Indian experience. “This trip will certainly go a long way in helping the relationship between players. It gave me an opportunity to know Indian cricket a bit more intimately. This will help us when we play India in the future.”

Symonds goes on to say how the presence of several of his baggy green teammates in several city-based IPL franchises will also help Indians to get to know the Aussies better. He’s also quite elated by the rare experience of hearing a deafening roar from the locals for a four or six off his bat. “It’s really heartening. It was nice to come to India and have the crowd on your side. It’s good that we can do something to improve the relationship between countries that play against each other so often.” He sounds almost statesman-like when he calls this “better for cricket”.

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