Flintoff's absence not great news for CSK

There is no question about the fact that the absence of Andrew Flintoff will hurt Chennai Super King's chances of repeating their IPL success when they compete at this year's Champions League in South Africa.

Freddie has had two operations in the last twelve months and will be out of action for the entire 2010 season.

Although Flintoff missed this year's IPL action his presence would have been priceless for CSK's campaign since he was a part of their squad that competed in IPL 2 in South Africa.

Flintoff is one player who is equally effective in all three forms of the game. He is deadly with the ball, powerful with the bat and dynamic in the field.

He has the ability to turn a Test match on its head within a span of minutes so the Twenty 20 format would have suited him perfectly as the entire contest is over in just over three hours.

Freddie who has had reasonable success in South Africa would have been an important cog in the CSK wheel. His teammates especially from the sub continent might struggle to cope with the pace and bounce of the pitches prepared for theChampions League. He would have been more than handy with the ball since he has the ability to swing it both ways.

Playing in his last Test series in England's Ashes winning campaign in 2009, Flintoff affected a brilliant run out of Ricky Ponting when Australia were going great guns in chasing down a winning target of 546.

Flintoff has been out of action since then and will be sorely missed this year not only by Super Kings but also by the English team who might have to do without his services in the one day series in Australia early next year.