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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London, Sep 9 Indian batsman Sourav Ganguly may have spoken a little too soon when he told a British tabloid that he is still young for another war. He said wil be in the field for a couple of years more..

He had no feeling that the national selectors were planning his farewell. He is confident of the berth in the India team for the upcoming Test series against Australia. The team management apparently conveyed to the selectors that Sourav’s physical fitness falls well short of international cricketing standards, leading to his poor fielding.

India’s most successful captain had told the London tabloid The Sun, during his holiday in England, that he is not thinking of retirement yet. Sourav has also added that he is not driven by any financial considerations to continue playing, it is the sheer love for the game that keeps him going.

‘You want to finish with reputation, not with people questioning your ability,’ said the 36-year-old Prince of Kolkata, who stunned the cricketing world by his aggressive come back in the team in 2006 after being written off by critics.

Sourav, though, has taken in his stride that his ODIs career is all but over. He was denied a berth in the on-day side from the tri-series in Australia as skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni and the selectors chose to build a team for the future.

Sourav said he is wel aware that he will not be there for the 2011 World Cup and it was time for grooming youngsters.

‘I miss the one-day game but the older players do understand they won’t be playing in the 2011 World Cup. So now it is time for the younger players to show their talent.’

‘At present, I am playing Test cricket and Twenty20 in the Indian Premier League. With so much money involved in the IPL you still have to live up to the expectations. It doesn’t matter what age you are — you have to perform,’ said the star player of the India side.

‘So I will finish both IPL and Test cricket at the same time. I am not playing for financial gains, it’s all about the performance.’

‘He calls the IPL a movie show of three hours with big names and even teams owned by movie stars.

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