Flintoff keen to benefit from IPL experience

Andrew Flintoff has told the BBC that he wants to join the IPL next season, arguing that any England players who followed suit would gain from the experience.

"They [India's players] played in the IPL and have brought that into the 50-over game," Flintoff said. "It's something I'd be keen to have a go at it on the Indian pitches, with the Indian players and international cricketers.

"It's possibly now an important development in a player's life. We've got to expand our game a little bit. The basics are there, we just need to turn it up a notch.

"India are very well-drilled and confident coming into this series and we've been pretty much out-played in each department. They've adapted quickly and that's something our lads would be keen to do."

The stumbling block remains the ECB's negotiations with the Indian board over releasing players for the tournament which starts on April 10 and runs for seven weeks. The competition clashes with the first two Tests of the English summer. While the ECB seems prepared to release its players for the early stages of the event, Lalit Modi, the IPL chairman, wants them to be made available for it all.