The West Indies tour did not go well for Andrew Flintoff. Nobody knows what awaits him in his two weeks stint with Indian Premier League, but the million dollar cricketer belonging to Chennai Super Kings have great expectations from the upcoming cricket T-20 tournament.

A hip injury, thigh injury and finally a thumb injury – it was far too much for the English cricketer Andrew Flintoff. But the optimistic cricketer who was bought for a whopping $1.5 price in the IPL Season 2 auction by the Chennai Super Kings hopes that things will work in his direction in the upcoming cricket Twenty-20 cricket tournament. “It’s been frustrating with the hip injury, thigh injury and getting hit on the thumb just before the end of the tour of the West Indies and I think the IPL will be good for me,”. The team that came out number two in the previous season will have this talented English cricketer for two weeks. For Flintoff, it will be a great learning experience ahead of a busy international cricket schedule. The player says that the things he picks up from his team mates as well as the opponents will help him perform better for the England team in the World Twenty20 at home in June.“I know I’m only bowling four overs a game, but it will give me a chance to work on my game in between games going into a Test series and I will be working with top facilities out in South Africa,” Flintoff, who earlier expressed his disappointment at not being able to participate in the tournament in India told the cricket news media.

As the cricketer returns from South Africa, a rather hectic summer at home awaits him and his colleagues in the England team. His teammates in England team, who are going to accompany him in South Africa, are Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Owais Shah and Ravi Bopara. All of them are to report back to England team management by May 1. The upcoming cricket commitments of England cricket team include: Test and one-day series against West Indies, the World Twenty20, the Ashes and a seven-match one-day series against Australia.

The army of Chennai Super Kings includes the likes of MS Dhoni, Matt Hayden and Muralitharan. Flintoff hopes that observing their playing techniques would help him fine tune his own. And that in turn would help him earn an edge over his World Twenty20 opponents. He particularly mentions Dhoni who has become an authority in shortest format cricket by now and Hayden who has given quite an impressive performance last season.

“While I’m out there I’ll be watching the likes of Dhoni, who has played a lot of it, and Hayden who had a good IPL last year. I will be speaking to a few of the Indian guys and see if I can pick their brains,” said Flintoff. For Flintoff fans out there here are information that would really help: The player is going to play at least seven matches in South Africa. You can watch him play his first match of the season against the Mumbai Indians in Cape Town on April 18. Next interesting match to catch is the one in which he would take on to another multi million dollar English cricketer Pietersen and his team, Royal Challengers. It will take place two days later in Port Elizabeth.
Source – cricket360.com

Chennai Super Kings:-

Owner – India Cements Ltd.
Captain – Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India)
Coach – Stephen Fleming (New Zealand)
Assistant Coach – Venkatesh Prasad (India)
Physical Trainer – Gregory King (South Africa)
Physiotherapist – Tommy Simsek

Batsman:-
Matthew Hayden (Australia)
Suresh Raina (India)
Michael Hussey (India)
Ankit Gupta (India)
Murali Vijay (India)
George Bailey (Australia)
Abhinav Mukund (India)
Arun Karthik (India)
Subramaniam Badrinath (India)

Bowlers:-
Manpreet Gony (India)
Lakshmipathy Balaji (India)
Makhaya Ntini (South Africa)
Muttiah Muralitharan (Sri Lanka)
Sudeep Tyagi (India)
Palani Amarnath (India)

All Rounders:-
Thilan Thushara (Sri Lanka)
Joginder Sharma (India)
Albie Morkel (SOuth Africa)
Selvam Suresh Kumar (India)
Ravichandran Ashwin (India)
Vidyut Sivaramakrishnan (India)
Shadab Jakati (India)
Napoleon Einstein (India)
Viraj Kadbe (India)

Wicket Keeper:-
Mahendra Singh Dhoni (India)
Parthiv Patel (India)

Chennai Super Kings is fully geared up for IPL II . Everything is falling in place and with coach Stephen Fleming’s arrival, CSK look set to capture the heart of one and all, as it did last time. A 30-member strong team comprising players and support staff will assemble in South Africa where the team will train and play practice matches.

Most of the players including Fleming, Matthew Hayden, George Bailey, Manpreet Gony, Suresh Raina, Shadab Jakati, Joginder Sharma, Sudeep Tyagi, Parthiv Patel along with players from Tamil Nadu will leave for South Africa from the city on Wednesday. The rest will join them in the next few days.

VB Chandrasekhar (director, cricketing operations, CSK) while announcing the players list informed that Kiwi Jacob Oram will be playing the entire tournament. It is believed that Michael Hussey will play when he makes himself available.

Fleming on his first day as coach of CSK handled the media with ease.He was eager to play the new role of coach with perfection. He stated that he was clearly aware what his role should be.

Although he appeared to look gentle he made it clear that he will handle the team professionally and stressed that there was no place for sentiment.

“We have a balanced side. I am eager to perform my role to the best of my ability,” said Fleming.

The former New Zealand captain made it clear that the captain was the boss and his role would be that of a supplementary one. “I would prefer the captain to have the final say. My job would be to work with players and see to that each one gives his best and help the captain marshall resources in the best way,” said Fleming.

He also praised Dhoni for his excellent leadership skills.

When quizzed whether he believed in John Buchanan’s theory of four captains? “I do not believe in his (John’s) theory. I do not wish to make innovations for the sake of it. Things will be more or less the same like last time,” reflected the Kiwi.

On team composition, Fleming said: “We have to go there and see the conditions.

As far as I am concerned the best team would take the field according to the opposition. Reputations and names do not matter. I see this (IPL II) as excellent opportunity in particular for ‘home’ grown players to prove their mettle.” N Srinivasan, owner of CSK, was hopeful of a good show by his team.

He was happy that at last IPL II was happening and said the governing committee was doing everything to see to that the public in South Africa was aware what IPL was all about.
Source – expressbuzz.com

A HIGHLY optimistic N Srinivasan, the secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) announced that the Indian Premier League Twenty20 cricket tournament transcends borders. Srinivasan, who owns the Chennai Super Kings announced that his team has hired renowned foreign cricketers to attain victory.

While speaking to the media, Srinivasan said, “I think, the IPL transcends borders. We only wanted the best and it does not matter which country he hails from.” He has appointed Stephen Fleming, the former captain of New Zealand as the coach of the Chennai Super Kings. His team also has South African Greg King as the trainer and Australian Tom Simsek as the physio.

On the question whether the hiring of foreign coaches and players would increase the budget of the team or not, Srinivasan replied, “We are not concerned by the budgets. Money is not the issue, but what is more important is winning. Our focus is on winning the tournament this year.” Srinivasan also declared that they have a fair idea about their finances based on last year, but the amount spend would be known only after the tournament is over.

When asked about his views on the doctrine of John Buchanan, the Australian coach of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), about having multiple captains in a single team, Srinivasan said that Shahrukh Khan, the owner of the KKR has already replied to Gavaskar on that issue. He did not wish to say anything more on that topic.

Srinivasan also expects a very good market for the Season II of IPL, though it would be held outside India this time. According to Srinivasan, the huge Asian population in South Africa would play the role of a positive catalyst in getting success there. The sale of tickets is also encouraging, he added.
Source – merinews.com

Last season’s finalist Chennai Super Kings (CSK) would prove an even stronger side in the IPL this year, said N. Srinivasan, the Vice-Chairman and Managing Director of India Cements — the franchise owner of CSK — at the official press conference of the team here on Monday.

“We missed winning the IPL by a whisker in the last edition and our aim is to win the title this year. We are focussed on this,” said Mr. Srinivasan.

He added the coming in of influential all-rounder Andrew Flintoff and the presence of several multi-dimensional cricketers such as Albie Morkel and Jacob Oram would add great depth and value to the side.

Mr. Srinivasan expected the IPL to be a success. “The fact that the tickets for the opening games in Cape Town have been sold out tells us about the interest the tournament has generated. Cricket South Africa has gone out of its way to support the IPL,” he said.

Asked about batting legend Sunil Gavaskar’s criticism of Kolkata Knight Riders’ coach John Buchannan, Mr. Srinivasan replied, “I think Shah Rukh Khan has answered.”

Stephen Fleming, CSK’s player-cum-coach, lavished praise on Mahendra Singh Dhoni.

“He’s an outstanding captain and leader. While there has been a lot of focus on his attributes as a skipper, sometimes we forget how hard it is for him to keep wickets and remain a key batsman while doing the top job. His contribution as a player is second to none. He leads by example. And he has the respect of the cricketing community.”
Source – hindu.com