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