Wellington: New Zealand all-rounder Jacob Oram says he will pull out of the Indian Premier League if a nagging Achilles tendon strain prevents him from playing the domestic State Championship final on April 6.Oram, who represents Chennai Super Kings in the cash-rich league, denied suggestions that he was trying to save himself for the Twenty20 event by not playing in the ongoing Test series against India which the Kiwis trail 0-1.
"I can understand people thinking I'm cotton-wooling myself but I'll definitely take myself out (of the IPL) if I don't get through the final," Oram told 'The Dominion Post'.
Apart from the India series, the injury has forced him to withdraw from the Central Districts' domestic four-day match against Auckland.
But the imposing all-rounder said he was hopeful of being fit for the State Championship final against the same side at Lincoln, outside Christchurch.
Oram has a USD 675,000 contract with the Chennai Super Kings, who will open the second edition of the IPL against the Mumbai Indians in Cape Town on April 18.
With 21 wickets in his first 12 matches at an economy rate of well under six, Sunil Narine has been Kolkata's main-man with the ball.
