Upset at being summarily sacked from the team for the third Test against India, Australian vice-captain Shane Watson is now contemplating quitting Test cricket.
Watson had checked out of the team hotel and left for Sydney even as the rest of the squad trained, only hours after the all-rounder along with three other key Australian players were axed for ignoring a team management order.
Watson said he was "absolutely shattered" at being dropped and will have to weigh his future in Tests now.
"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 by the Australian media.
"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," he said.
Watson, though, added that he was at the peak of his career.
"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 added.
