Chandigarh : Sacked from the team for breach of discipline, Australian vice-captain Shane Watson said he was contemplating retiring from Test cricket.
An angry Watson said he was shattered with the team management’s decision.
“Any time you’re suspended for a Test match unless you do something unbelievably wrong, and obviously everyone knows what those rules are – I think it is very harsh,” Watson was quoted as saying in the Australian media.
Watson, along with James Pattinson, Usman Khawaja and Mitchell Johnson were dropped for the third Test for breach of discipline.
The players were given five days to submit three points on what they bring in the team either by mail or in person. But the four players failed to meet the deadline.
The Australian vice-captain packed up his bag and left for home, saying he needed to be with his pregnant wife Lee. Watson and his wife are expecting their first child later this month.
Watson, 31, said he is at the stage of his career where he was weighing up his future.
“I’m at a stage where I’m sort of weighing up my future and what I want to do with my cricket in general to be honest. I do love playing, there is no doubt about that but I’m going to spend the next few weeks with my family and just weigh up my options of just exactly what direction I want to go.
“There are a lot more important things in life – I certainly do love playing cricket and that passion is still there and I feel like I’m in the prime years of my cricket career. From that perspective I still feel like I’ve got a lot to give. But from a holistic perspective I’ve got to sit down with my family and decide which directions they are,” he said.
Watson said he was about to tell coach Mickey Arthur and captain Michael Clarke that he would miss the fourth Test in Delhi to be home for the birth of his first child.
“I was about to communicate that to Mickey and the leadership group today but they obviously beat me to it by telling me I wasn’t selected for this Test match.
“Also overnight, things have changed and Lee wasn’t going to tell me things had changed because she knew how much it meant to me to be able to play this Test match. (The baby) was due in a couple of weeks but it’s looking like things have sped up a little bit,” he said.