Andrew Flintoff has been ruled out of this year’s Indian Premier League (IPL) after another operation on his troublesome knee that is expected to sideline him for about six months.
The Lancashire all-rounder has been out of action since undergoing a micro-fracture operation on his right knee after retiring from test cricket having helped England regain the Ashes last year.
After an arthroscopy operation this week, the 32-year-old will not now be fit to play for the Chennai Super Kings in the IPL, which runs from March 12 to April 25.
“It is disappointing not to be able to play for Chennai, who have been very supportive throughout my time with them, but I took this decision because I love playing cricket and want to give myself the best chance of extending my career,” he said.
Flintoff rejected a central contract from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in September but said he intended to carry on playing one-day internationals and Twenty20s.
The operation means he will also be unavailable for the Twenty20 World Cup in West Indies from April 30 to May 16.
Once he recovers from surgery, however, Flintoff said he now wants to play all forms of the game for his county.
“My goals have changed since last summer,” Flintoff told Lancashire’s website. “I trust the surgeon, Andy Williams, implicitly and he is very pleased with the progress of the micro-fracture operation.
“When I first had the operation I did not think I would be able to play anything other than one-day cricket, but the news of my recovery has led me to believe I may play in all forms of cricket for Lancashire.
“First and foremost I have to prove to myself that I can regain my fitness and perform for Lancashire,” he added.
“My first love remains playing for Lancashire and I want to help them win trophies and hopefully I can help achieve that later this summer.”
Flintoff is confident he will eventually return to action with England as well as Lancashire.
“I have worked extremely hard over the last few months to get to this position and realise there is a lot more hard work in front of me if I want to return and play international cricket again,” said Flintoff.
“But if I am going to go through another six months of hard rehabilitation and training for long hours, I need a big incentive to be the driving force of that and playing for Lancashire and England again will become that.” — Reuters