The fate of Australia's upcoming cricket tour of India hung in the balance this morning following the series of deadly bomb blasts in New Delhi.Cricket Australia (CA) and the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) are meeting government and independent advisers today to discuss the Indian security situation, even as Indian Board secretary Niranjan Shah and batting maestro Virender Sehwag have played down the risk.
Ricky Ponting's team is scheduled to depart on Sunday.
Sehwag said yesterday about the security situation in Delhi, where the third Test is due to be played at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground from October 29: "Delhi is not like Pakistan. For us today, it is back to a normal routine. There is no place in the world that is completely safe, even America. I think the Australians should tour."
Niranjan Shah remained confident the tour would go on.
Concerned
"We are definitely concerned with the explosions in Delhi. These are testing times," he said, adding: "But I don't think it will have any impact of the coming series."
Australian authorities are sensitive to the criticism levelled against them by some Asian countries, including India, for postponing this year's tour of Pakistan on security grounds, and expressing concerns over the Champions Trophy there.
However, ACA president Paul Marsh insisted yesterday that security assessments would be made impartially, without being swayed by commercial considerations, a reference to the lucrative nature of any cricket tour of India.
The urgent reports asked for by CA and ACA from their security advisers will be presented today or tomorrow.
Tim May, chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers Associations (FICA) said it was unfair to compare the Jaipur bombing last May, which killed 60 people, to the situation in Pakistan.
"Pakistan has had 66 suicide bombings within its country over the past 12 months with over 3000 people killed and 17 of those attacks have been in the venues of the Champions Trophy," May said.
Priority
"There was no security assessment there was a likelihood of any further bombs going off in Jaipur.
"The threat assessment for India has been considerably lower than that of Pakistan.
"We want to find out if the latest bombings will change that in any way and what our independent experts think about our Australia 'A' players being over there at the moment.
"As always we'll rely on the advice of the experts," May said.
