Gilchrist hopes IPL will improve relations

Adam Gilchrist believes the relationships between Australia and India cricketers will be boosted by the Indian Premier League after a season filled with controversy fuelled by both camps. The teams meet for two or three CB Series finals over the next week and the games will be Gilchrist's farewell from international cricket.

He says the situation during India's tour has "got out of hand somewhat" but he hopes the IPL will help heal some of the rifts, as players from both nations are thrust into teams together. "That's where I see something like the IPL is going to be ground-breaking territory," Gilchrist told the Sunday Telegraph.

"That's going to be an opportunity for players around the world to get to meet, know and understand opposition cultures and customs. I think that's going to be a very positive off-shoot of the IPL. Any world XI team I've ever played in there's always been a great camaraderie in the rooms."

It would have been an interesting scenario had Harbhajan Singh ended up in the same squad as Andrew Symonds or Matthew Hayden, but Harbhajan is at Mumbai and no Australians were drafted by that franchise. Hayden went to Chennai, alongside Mahendra Singh Dhoni, while Symonds and Gilchrist are both going to Hyderabad, where the Indian contingent includes RP Singh and VVS Laxman. Ricky Ponting's new team-mates at Kolkata include Ishant Sharma and Sourav Ganguly.

If Australia's players are available for the IPL this season - their involvement depends on whether the tour of Pakistan goes ahead - they will have six weeks to cool off between the end of the CB Series and the start of the tournament. Gilchrist conceded the home summer had been a difficult one for some of his colleagues.

"There's been evidence that the players probably haven't been able to totally represent exactly how they've felt," he said. "It's grown beyond just the cricket, it's a business now and I think people are mindful of that.

"I don't think the players can totally complain too much, though, because it's a professional world and we're the beneficiaries of that professionalism, financially and by way of support off field. The support structure around players is as good as ever and we need to bear all that in mind.

"The situation this summer has got out of hand somewhat. Hopefully over the next week we see some great cricket, the series will finish and we'll all just move on and forget the almost tit-for-tat reactions that have been going on. Both teams are going to be extremely keen to get on and win this one and take a good memory out of what's been an exhausting summer."