“Opening day paved way for win” Flintoff disappointed by IPL switch

"It’s disappointing news because one of the big attractions for me about the IPL was playing in India," said Andrew Flintoff .

"I love playing cricket in India, particularly one-day cricket. I’ve never played a Twenty20 match over there but I can imagine it will be an unbelievable experience because as a player you don’t get a chance very often to play in front of big crowds of 40,000 to 50,000 people.

"It’s unfortunate but if we don’t do that this year then hopefully we can do it again next year."

"It would make it logistically easier to have it at home (in England)," stressed Flintoff.

"It would be good to spend some more time at home so obviously I’d prefer England, but I’m sure South Africa would do a good job of staging it if it went there as well."

He added: "I only heard about it this morning when I got a text from Neil Fairbrother telling me it wasn’t going to be in India and there were a couple of other options.

"I haven’t spoken to the franchise yet but I suppose that will happen once we know what is happening."