Andrew Flintoff dismissed the rumours regarding his decision to tour India and its relation with IPL ambitions. Flintoff, the English all rounder said his decision to tour India for the Test series has got nothing to do with his Indian Premier League dreams and asserted security would not be a distraction for his team mates in the series. England team has landed in India yesterday to play the two test series.

Flintoff, along with Steve Harmison and Graeme Swann, had reservations about touring India after the Mumbai terror strikes. But the talismanic all-rounder joined the Test squad after strong pressure from the team management. He said that his decisions are not influenced by IPL. While speaking to newspaper, he said that there was a safety concern in the beginning, and had doubts regarding the visit to India after the lethal terror strike in Mumbai that killed around 200. He said that for him, safety is more important than IPL.

Flintoff added that he took a decision after long discussion with his family. It was just a case of digesting it. But once the things regarding the tour were made clear, the issue was sorted out.  Flintoff’s comments came amid reports that the English cricketers shrugged off their reluctance to tour India in order to endear themselves to the IPL authorities. It was after strong persuasion and the promise of a foolproof security arrangement by the BCCI to the English cricketers that they agreed to come back to India for the series.  Flintoff admitted it would feel different to be surrounded by commandos all the time, but dismissed the comments that this would distract the attention of the players. He is confident that things will resume back to m=normalcy once the Test begins at Chennai on Thursday. He is confident of defeating India and sweeping the Test series.

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The flexibility shown by the Board of Cricket Control of India (BCCI) seems to have broken the ice over the confusion on England’s tour of India. The BCCI shifted the Test venues to Mohali and Chennai, from Ahmedabad and Mumbai assuring all security measures to the England team. The England & Wales Cricket Board, sources have principally agreed to return to India to complete the Test match-leg of the tour that got disrupted after the recent terror attacks in Mumbai. But ECB will take its final decision only after getting a clearance from their security consultants.

As per the new schedule, the warm-up game that was supposed to be played on December 5-7 has been called off. The series will be kicked off with the first match at Chennai from December 11 to 15, followed by a Test in Mohali from December 19 to 23. But still certain some roadblocks exist for the England squad to return to India within a couple of weeks of their hasty departure. N Srinivasan, BCCI secretary has clarified the shifting of the venues in his media release. The England board will send their security consultant for discussions with the authorities in India before final clearance is given for the tour, said Srinivasan.

Several England players have expressed reservations about their safety in India in the wake of the terror strikes in Mumbai. ECB has made it clear that a decision will be taken only after consulting with the players. Many senior players have shown their desire to pull out of the series.

Meanwhile, BCCI has gone out of their way in their backroom negotiations with ECB as they are in attempts to save the series. Initially, the BCCI had opted to stick to the original schedule, but had to come on track with English side after ECB expressed its displeasure over that.

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