Andrew Flintoff Proves Too Expensive in the Ipl and Risks the Axe
England all-rounder is clobbered for 22 in a single over and follows that with an indifferent batting performance
Andrew Flintoff cost the Chennai Super Kings a record-equaling $1.55m (£1.03m) and today the England all-rounder proved himself the Indian Premier League's most expensive player in more ways than one. Flintoff returned the most costly bowling figures in this year's competition and then failed with the bat as his team slipped to a nine-run defeat against Delhi Daredevils.
The man touted as one of the world's best one-day bowlers now boasts two of the IPL's three most costly analysis to date. Worse, his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni refused to rule out the prospect of dropping Flintoff for Chennai's next game, against Kolkata Knight Riders in Cape Town on Saturday. For the tournament's joint most costly cricketer, that would represent an unthinkable climbdown. "We'll have to see what our best available plan is according to the situation," said Dhoni after Flintoff conceded 50 runs in four overs. "Let's hope for the best."
If that may have been as tactful as Dhoni allowed himself to be, he was unequivocal about the difference between victory and defeat. "They were really good with their death bowling and we struggled a lot," he said. "We ended up maybe giving 30-odd runs more than we should have. We're not really up to the mark with bowling. A few overs went for too many runs and that really matters."
The one that mattered most came when Flintoff was brought on to bowl the 19th over and was clobbered for 22 by the South African AB de Villiers, who finished with 105 not out off 54 balls, the first hundred in this year's competition. It was the second time in six days Flintoff has conceded that many in an over following Saturday's mini-mauling at the hands of the Mumbai Indians batsman Abhishek Nayar.
Flintoff has already confessed here to a lack of a slower ball, but Dhoni also pinpointed the need to work on yorkers, while doing his best to offer a consoling arm. "You always back a player when he's not in form," he said. "We are absolutely fine with him. It's not about how much you have bought him for. He has been struggling in this tournament with his bowling, but he's the kind of bowler you want to look up to."
But the Delhi captain, Virender Sehwag, stressed the need for Twenty20 bowlers to possess variation and it was a painful irony that when Flintoff batted, with Chennai needing a manageable 82 off 56 balls with seven wickets in hand to overhaul Delhi's 189 for five, he fell victim to Ashish Nehra's slower one, spooning a catch to long-off after an unconvincing 17-ball 16. That set in motion a late collapse as Chennai panicked against some tight bowling.
The man touted as one of the world's best one-day bowlers now boasts two of the IPL's three most costly analysis to date. Worse, his captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni refused to rule out the prospect of dropping Flintoff for Chennai's next game, against Kolkata Knight Riders in Cape Town on Saturday. For the tournament's joint most costly cricketer, that would represent an unthinkable climbdown. "We'll have to see what our best available plan is according to the situation," said Dhoni after Flintoff conceded 50 runs in four overs. "Let's hope for the best."
If that may have been as tactful as Dhoni allowed himself to be, he was unequivocal about the difference between victory and defeat. "They were really good with their death bowling and we struggled a lot," he said. "We ended up maybe giving 30-odd runs more than we should have. We're not really up to the mark with bowling. A few overs went for too many runs and that really matters."
The one that mattered most came when Flintoff was brought on to bowl the 19th over and was clobbered for 22 by the South African AB de Villiers, who finished with 105 not out off 54 balls, the first hundred in this year's competition. It was the second time in six days Flintoff has conceded that many in an over following Saturday's mini-mauling at the hands of the Mumbai Indians batsman Abhishek Nayar.
Flintoff has already confessed here to a lack of a slower ball, but Dhoni also pinpointed the need to work on yorkers, while doing his best to offer a consoling arm. "You always back a player when he's not in form," he said. "We are absolutely fine with him. It's not about how much you have bought him for. He has been struggling in this tournament with his bowling, but he's the kind of bowler you want to look up to."
But the Delhi captain, Virender Sehwag, stressed the need for Twenty20 bowlers to possess variation and it was a painful irony that when Flintoff batted, with Chennai needing a manageable 82 off 56 balls with seven wickets in hand to overhaul Delhi's 189 for five, he fell victim to Ashish Nehra's slower one, spooning a catch to long-off after an unconvincing 17-ball 16. That set in motion a late collapse as Chennai panicked against some tight bowling.
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