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Yusuf Pathan was an unknown name in international cricket till a couple of years ago. His name only came in the news as the brother of Irfan Pathan who had a stable international career then. But times have changed for him after the IPL T20 World Cup and more importantly the IPL T20 first season last year. He was perhaps the biggest find of IPL season 1 and he ability to hit fours and sixes at will had made him an instant hit amongst the Indian audience. Thereafter his international career also rose significantly and he is a permanent member of the ODI and T20 side right now. He has also helped India win matches from crucial situations in the last one year.

And Yusuf Pathan is again busy in preparing for the second season of IPL this year. But IPL T20 season 2 has a greater significance for cricket this year as the ICC T20 World Cup will follow the IPL this year. And Yusuf Pathan believes that the IPL will be an ideal preparation for the T20 World Cup as the conditions of South Africa and England are quite similar. And it would also help India in defending its IPL T20 World Cup title in June.

Yusuf is one of the main players in the IPL season 1 title holder Rajasthan Royals squad. Hope that Yusuf and other players have a successful IPL and that the league helps in choosing the best unit to represent India in the IPL T20 World Cup.

Andrew Flintoff is quite hopeful that his appearance in the IPL T20 season 2 will help him in learning a lot about the T20 game. Flintoff will be playing his first IPL match for Chennai Super Kings on April 18 against Mumbai Indians after CSK had bought him for $1.55 in the IPL auctions this year. Last year the English players were not allowed to play in IPL but four English players have been bought by the IPL franchisees this year including Flintoff and Kevin Pietersen. Flintoff has been suffering from injuries and problems for quite sometime but he thinks the IPL would help him revive his body once again. And he believes that this would help him immensely in preparations for the ICC Twenty20 World Cup in England which would follow the IPL. He also said that he would great benefit being in Chennai Super Kings as he would be able to learn from great players like Dhoni, Hayden and Muralidharan. He said that he would be speaking to the other Indian guys too and try to ‘pick their brains’. He believes that the league is a very good platform to exchange knowledge between the players and he will also benefit from it.

However, Flintoff is also worried that the English players should not reveal too much information about their team-mates while conversing with their IPL team-mates as that might be detrimental for England team. Flintoff’s second match would be against his English team-mate Kevin Pietersen’s side Bangalore Royal Challengers on April 20. Anyways lets wait and see how IPL would help Flintoff and how Flintoff would help IPL.