IPL
Flintoff fighting fit for IPL
2009-04-12 18:09
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London - England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff insisted on Sunday his lucrative involvement in the Indian Premier League will not eat away at his powers as a potential Ashes winner.
Flintoff, signed for $1.5 million by the Chennai Super Kings franchise for the IPL which gets underway in South Africa on Saturday, has been dogged by injuries recently.
A hip problem kept him out of the final Test and first two one-day internationals in the West Indies.
Many in the game believe the 31-year-old should take a break before an exhausting English summer sees Test and one-day series against the West Indies and Australia with the World Twenty20 squeezed in between.
"I have missed so much cricket through injury that I don't want to miss any more," Flintoff told the BBC.
"I've not played a lot of Twenty20 cricket and I'd like to play more. I'm not saying the money is not very appealing, but there's a lot more to it.
"I spent several weeks working very hard at my fitness when I came back from the West Indies and, hopefully, that will stand me in good stead come the summer."