5 cricketers who missed games due to unusual reasons

It is very common for players to miss games due to bad form or ill-health. Professional cricket is tiring - both mentally and physically. And recent trends have shown cricket boards even resting their key players to preserve their energies for bigger matches and tournaments.

Taking a break has become a tactical tool to optimize the player's potential and longevity.

However, there have been instances when cricketers have missed the game owing to bizarre reasons. Here, we look at five such players who missed the game for unusual reasons.

5. Andrew Symonds

This happened during the 2008 Australia-Bangladesh one-day international series, when Andrew Symonds went fishing early in the morning, on a rest day. The management called for an urgent meeting to discuss some pressing issues, but Symonds could not attend the meeting and was dispatched home.

Before this incident, he had missed a 2005 ODI game against Bangladesh for being intoxicated. Australia lost that match.

Symonds' career suffered a lot because of his indiscipline and on-field disputes with the opposition players.

4. Gautam Gambhir

The Indian opener Gautam Gambhir missed out on a match in order to attend his sister's wedding reception. This happened during the 2009 series between India and Sri Lanka, when he wrote to the team management asking not to be included for the third match due to the occasion of his sister's wedding. This was accepted by the management.

When the news broke in the media, Gambhir was criticized for his decision by former cricketers and experts. The criticism was probably more pronounced because he was going through a purple patch and they wanted him to make the most of it.