One doe not know whether the exorbitant amount that the franchise paid to acquire Flintoff factor in the element of uncertainty that Flintoff has in his character on account of the injury prone nature that he has . Flintoff revealed that his injury on the hips had started developing from the third Test in Antigua.

Now there is an existentialist dilemma which Flintoff has to endure. It has been set into motion by the Australian Captain Ricky Ponting, who has placed the country before IPL, and whether Flintoff should also follow in the same league or not. The difference between both of them lies in the fact that Flintoff is the highest paid player while Ponting did not get the same bidding, and he had expressed resentment about the same as well in the last season.
 
There is a view gathering around in Australia that the stock of Australia as the top nation in the cricketing world took a serious hit after the players of the team played in IPL. Such was the decline, that Australia lost home Test and one-day series to South Africa. The view gathering around in Australia is that it has rattled Ponting to such an extent that he has decided not to appear in the IPL this year and rather to concentrate on playing for Australia.

Moot point is, whether players from England who would be playing in this year’s IPL would follow the suit? Not likely, as can be deduced from comment of one of the players, who opined that Ponting is entitled to his views, and he would play in Indian Premier League.  

The boards have also to take the blame as they are packing the itineraries these days in such a manner that it is going to take a toll on the physical health of the players and the England and Wales Cricket Board also has to share the blame for players. After all, the quickest way to grow the game's revenue in recent years has been to enhance TV deals by playing ever-increasing amounts of cricket, a process that has gone unchecked for the last 10 years.

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."

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