A day after he was selected in the Indian preliminary squad for the Twenty20 World Cup in England in June, Rajasthan Royals player Naman Ojha says he is keen to perform well in the second edition of the IPL and confirm his berth in the national squad.

“I am looking forward to perform well in the Indian Premier League (IPL), commencing this month in South Africa, to get a berth in the Indian team that plays in the Twenty20 World Cup in England,” Ojha told PTI on Sunday.

“The IPL is very crucial for me,” he said.

The 26-year-old wicketkeeper-batsman from Madhya Pradesh said he was ready to bat in any order in the IPL and was mentally prepared for it.

“I have toiled hard in the field”, he said.

Rajasthan Royals will clash with the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the inaugural IPL’s Twenty20 match in Cape Town on April 18.

Ojha started playing first-class cricket in 2000 and has scored over 3,000 runs for Madhya Pradesh.
Source – cricketnext.in.com

Andrew Flintoff intends to become England’s spy to aid their ICC World Twenty20 campaign when he embarks on his lucrative Indian Premier League adventure next week.

Flintoff has signed up for a two-week stint with the Chennai Super Kings and will earn $1.5m (£1m) on a pro-rata basis depending on the number of matches he plays in the tournament in South Africa. He believes the IPL will be the perfect stage to help him reach his peak this summer – and also provide him with the opportunity of spying on opposition players.

“It’s been frustrating with [injuries] and I think the IPL will be good for me,” said Flintoff. “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.”

Flintoff will get to mingle with players like Australia’s Matthew Hayden, India captain MS Dhoni, New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram and Sri Lanka’s Muttiah Muralitharan at Chennai.

“The Twenty20 World Cup is going to be huge,” said Flintoff. “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. You’ll find players helping each other out.”

Flintoff opens his IPL career against Sachin Tendulkar’s Mumbai Indians in Cape Town on 18 April before facing England team-mate Kevin Pietersen’s Bangalore Royal Challengers in Port Elizabeth two days later.

On his busy summer ahead, Flintoff added: “It is a long schedule and everyone is looking forward to the Ashes and making sure everyone is fit for that but I’ve stressed all along that we have to perform in all the games we’re playing.”

*South Africa crushed Australia by seven wickets to level the one-day international series at 1-1 yesterday. Australia batted poorly with the Proteas’ 19-year-old bowler Wayne Parnell claiming career-best figures of 4 for 25 to help bundle the tourists out for 131. Graeme Smith (40) and Jacques Kallis (31) posted a second-wicket stand of 69 but it was left to AB de Villiers to steer the hosts home with an unbeaten 36.
Source – independent.co.uk

Yusuf Abdullah, the South African pace bowler, will be joining the King’s XI Punjab squad to replace the injured West Indies pace bowler Jerome Taylor for the upcoming second season of the IPL.

Speaking on this, an elated Abdullah said, “I’m quite excited about the upcoming challenge. The IPL is in town and this is a good opportunity for me, hopefully I can do well.”

The 26 year old left arm bowler made an inspiring international debut for South Africa in a twenty20 international against Australia last week. At present, Abdulla is one of the most in-formed bowler for the South African team in domestic competition. He has already played 26 T20 matches.

Commenting over Abdullah inclusion in the team, Kings XI Punjab Co-Promoter, Ness Wadia said, “We are excited to have Yusuf as part of our squad, as he will bring with him the local knowledge and experience of playing in a T20 format in South Africa.”

Earlier this year, the King’s XI had picked pace bowler Taylor. However, he has been ruled out of the IPL after sustaining an injury from a car accident.

It can be recalled that Kings XI’s pace battery is suffering from injury problems. Taylor is the third on its injury list after S. Sreesanth and Aussie fast bowler Brett Lee, who is recovering from a foot injury.

Apart from this, the Punjab team has also signed up Dave Nosworthy, head coach of the Lions, to assist coach Tom Moody.
Source – topnews.in

England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff has said that he will not allow the Indian Premier League (IPL) to compromise his dream of recapturing the Ashes from the Australians.

Having helped England to a 3-2 one-day series win over West Indies, Flintoff is expected to pocket around 75,000 pounds a game for the Chennai Super Kings. He told SunSport: “I’d be lying if I said the money wasn’t appealing, but from a playing perspective the standard looks excellent. For me it’s a perfect start to the summer, with some short but high class warm weather cricket.””Test cricket is still the ultimate and as professionals we have to be able to switch between the different forms of the game,” Flintoffaid, adding: “I want to experience the high of winning the 2005 Ashes again, and definitely not the whitewash of 2006/07.”The Ashes will be huge, but there is so much cricket before then we have to stay focused on the job in hand,” he said.
Source – newstrackindia.com

MIKE Hussey has joined the list of Australian players to withdraw from this month’s Indian Premier League tournament, preferring to spend time at home with his family ahead of the Ashes tour in July.

Hussey said yesterday he had negotiated with his IPL franchise Chennai Super Kings to skip the five-week tournament starting on April 18.

Australia’s selectors may also decided to rest the 33-year-old batsman — who has averaged only 23 in his past eight Tests this summer — from the one-day international series against Pakistan in Dubai starting later this month.

Australia’s ODI series against South Africa was due to start in Durban late last night, Melbourne time, and finishes on April 17, followed by the Pakistan series.

“I just spoke to the franchise and asked for the time off to be with family as my playing schedule has been very busy and they were very understanding,” Hussey said. “But I am available if we make the semi-finals (on May 22 and 23) and final.”

Captain Ricky Ponting, vice-captain Michael Clarke and pace spearhead Mitch Johnson are also not playing in this year’s IPL, which has been shifted from India to South Africa for security reasons.

Cricket Australia’s selectors are set to announce a squad next week for the one-day series against Pakistan. It’s understood selectors will take into account the virtual back-to-back nature of Australia’s playing schedule this year in selecting the squad for the Pakistan series.

Australia’s commitments include the Twenty20 World Cup in England in June, followed by the Ashes and seven ODI matches against England, the Champions Trophy in South Africa, the Twenty20 Champions League in India involving NSW and Victoria, a seven-match ODI series against India and a home summer starting in November against West Indies and Pakistan.
Source – theage.com.au