India’s cricket chiefs were yesterday hoping Australia’s Test tour would begin as scheduled next week despite security concerns following a series of deadly bomb attacks in New Delhi.
“The blasts are a concern, but I don’t think it will have an impact on the Australian tour,” Indian cricket board secretary Niranjan Shah told reporters.
Five synchronized bomb blasts ripped through crowded markets across the Indian capital on Saturday evening.
New Delhi is scheduled to host the third of the four Tests between India and Australia from Oct. 29 after Ricky Ponting’s tourists arrive next Sunday for the six-week tour.
Cricket Australia has commissioned an urgent review of the security situation in India with officials expecting a decision “in the next week or so.”
“The fundamental principle that always comes first is the safety of the team and the team officials,” Cricket Australia’s public affairs manager Peter Young was quoted as saying by the Web site Cricinfo. “There’s a standard process for every tour. Such is the way of the world these days that this process is completed before we go anywhere.”
Australia was one of the nations that declined to tour Pakistan this month for the International Cricket Council’s Champions Trophy on security grounds, which led to the tournament being put off by a year.
Australia had also refused to undertake a Test tour of Pakistan in March and April for similar security fears.
“The specific answer we were given on Pakistan was that it was not safe to go,” Young said. “We will take advice on this situation and will make a decision. We expect that to be in the next week or so.”
The Australian government’s updated travel advice for India is “to exercise a high degree of caution because of the high risk of terrorist activity by militant groups.”
Indian cricket officials have reason to be wary of Australia’s security concerns.
Ponting’s men are expected to spend the first week training in Jaipur, the state capital of western Rajasthan, where 65 people were killed in similar blasts in May.
The blasts, however, did not deter foreign players, including former Australian spinner Shane Warne, from taking part in the Indian Premier League Twenty20 competition which was being held at that time in various cities, including Jaipur.
The southern city of Bangalore, which hosts the first Test, was rocked by eight bombs in July that killed a woman and injured seven.
England, who tour India after the Australian series, are scheduled to play the first of two Tests in the western city of Ahmedabad, where 45 people were killed in July in serial bomb blasts.
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