Australia decided yesterday to go ahead with their upcoming four-Test tour of India despite security concerns following a series of deadly bomb attacks in New Delhi.
“Our advice is there are some concerns and to exercise caution, but currently they do not compromise the tour,” Cricket Australia said on its Web site.
Ricky Ponting’s 15-man squad is due to leave this weekend with the first Test starting in Bangalore on Oct. 9, with a Test match in Delhi from Oct. 29.
Five coordinated bomb blasts ripped through crowded markets across the Indian capital on Saturday evening, killing more than 20 people and wounding at least 90 others.
Indian Mujahideen, a shadowy Muslim militant group, claimed responsibility.
Cricket Australia commissioned a security review following the bombings and spokesman Peter Young said it had concluded that travel to India remained appropriate.
He said tight security arrangements were already in place for the Australia A team currently in India, and they would be extended to the senior squad when they arrived.
“In consultation with the BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India], we have upgraded security in and around the dressing rooms and they will have an escort to the ground,” he said.
“Australia A players have also been told not to leave the hotel without good reason. It’s just a matter of prudence,” Young said.
The team will initially travel to Jaipur, where 65 people were killed in similar blasts in May, for acclimatization and a practice match.
A second practice match in Hyderabad is scheduled before the first Test in Bangalore, the city rocked by eight bombs in July that killed a woman and injured seven.
Australia was one of the nations that declined to tour Pakistan this month for the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Champions Trophy on security grounds, which led to the tournament being put off by a year.
Australia had also refused to undertake a tour of Pakistan in March-April for similar security fears.
Pakistan cricket officials yesterday slammed the decision to go ahead with the tour of India saying it smacked of double standards.
“Pakistan is as safe a country as India and we had even promised state level security for the Australians and other teams,” Pakistan Cricket Board chief operating officer Shafqat Naghmi Naghmi said. “The events [Australia touring India] only shows the double standards of Australian cricket.”
Naghmi said the PCB hopes Australia fulfill their commitment to tour next year.
“Now we will see if Australia will come to Pakistan next year and what pretext they now make,” he said.
“Terrorist attacks can take place anywhere. No country is safer than the other and this point was highlighted after the unfortunate and sad incident in Delhi,” Naghmi said.
“We find it hard to comprehend that when Australian cricketers can tour a country which has had a succession of bomb attacks what is so different about coming to Pakistan,” he said.
Naghmi also criticized the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) for not believing what the ICC said about Pakistan.
“The stance taken by the ACA was disappointing as even the ICC and other countries had acknowledged the great efforts made by Pakistan to provide a safe environment for the Champions Trophy and cleared Pakistan as safe,” he said.
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