Broad gives IPL a miss

Stuart Broad has opted out of participating in the second season of the IPL in order to concentrate on his fledgling international career. Although 13 England players will be entered into the February 6 auction, Broad has decided to rest up ahead of a summer which includes the Ashes and the second ICC World Twenty20.

Broad is the second big-ticket player to opt out of the lucrative Twenty20 tournament after Australia's Mitchell Johnson. Johnson had also opted for rest after taking on a gruelling workload during the home series against South Africa recently.

"Fair play to him [Broad] for having the courage to stand up when everyone else is heading in the other direction," Mick Newell, Broad's head coach at Nottinghamshire, told the Daily Telegraph. "There is no desperate need for him to rush into it and he wants to take care of himself. Having a good summer and Ashes with England are his priority."

Broad, 22, is the highest-ranked English one-day bowler in the world, sitting at eighth in the ICC's list. His useful batting also makes him a handy commodity in Twenty20 cricket.

Managing director of England Cricket, Hugh Morris said: "Stuart has done terrifically well since he got into the England set-up. He is still gaining experience at this level, he feels as though it is important at this particular stage that he may need a rest and that is absolutely respected by us. It has been very much down to a player's decision."