Siddle opts for country over cash, withdraws from IPL auction

Melbourne, Jan 8 (ANI): Australian pacer Peter Siddle has put country before the Indian Premier League's mega cash by withdrawing his name from the January 19 auction of the IPL.

Siddle name initially featured to play in the lucrative Twenty20 competition, but was withdrawn from the list of Australians who will be part of the auction for the third IPL season, which starts in March.

Siddle, who spent most of the 2009 calendar year overseas on cricket duty, said he had decided against a stint in the IPL to give himself the best chance of staying fresh for national selection, The AAP reports.

"The offer was there to go over, but my decision at the moment is to give this year a miss and concentrate on playing as much cricket as I can for Australia. That's my No.1 goal and that's what I want to do," he said.

"It's a big couple of years coming up and that's what I want to try to do, play every form and play every game. It's a lot of money, but the toughest decision is missing a game for Australia and I don't want to do that.

"It was bad enough missing over in Perth for that one Test (against West Indies in December). I don't want to miss any more games for Australia," Siddle added.

There are currently 29 Australians playing across the eight IPL franchises.

Michael Clarke and Mitchell Johnson are other high-profile Australian players to have resisted the IPL rush. (ANI)