After Pakistan, will it be India?

[Neo]

After Pakistan, will it be India?​

Anand Vasu, Hindustan Times
New Delhi, September 13, 2008

Only 10 days before Australia are scheduled to land in India for their four-Test tour, just hours after a Pakistan team arrived in the national capital to play their Nissar Trophy match against Ranji champions Delhi, serial blasts ripped through the city throwing things into uncertainty.

The first bomb went off at 6.10 pm, close to midnight in Australia and there was no response to phone calls to Cricket Australia's Jolimont Street headquarters in Melbourne. The Board of Control for Cricket in India, however, reacted guardedly. "We are definitely concerned with today's explosions in Delhi. These are testing times," Niranjan Shah, BCCI secretary, told HT. "But I don't think it will have any impact on the coming Australia series."

The BCCI's optimism might prove to be misplaced as the explosions raise serious questions. Only recently, the 'western bloc' — led by South Africa and willingly supported by Australia, England and New Zealand — refused to take part in the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, leading to the tournament being "postponed" to October 2009.

It remains to be seen now, whether Australia continue to consider India safe to tour. They are scheduled to play their first Test in Bangalore, the city where seven blasts caused a spate of injuries and triggered a wave of terror on July 25. One day later, more than 50 died when serial explosions targetted Ahmedabad, where England are scheduled to play in December. Add to this the Jaipur terror attacks in the middle of the Indian Premier League, and the situation is ripe for a pullout from either Australia or England or both.

With the Champions Trophy unable to get off the ground as teams refused to tour Pakistan on security grounds, a precedent has been set, the implications of which are dire, from a cricketing point of view.

Since the pullout, Pakistan have struggled to arrange fixtures. First, they approached South Africa to host a one-day tri-series but the Proteas declined. Sri Lanka followed suit, conveying their inability to play Pakistan at the time.

Such is the Pakistan board's desperation for some cricket that they are casting their net far and wide. They have appealed to the West Indies to travel to Pakistan to play two Tests in November soon after the two teams play ODIs in Abu Dhabi in early November. The West Indies are yet to reply.

Pakistan have also approached New Zealand with an invitation to play two Tests, but the Kiwis were among the teams who were unconvinced by security assurances and, in the recent past, have abandoned tours after bombs went off in the host country. Pakistan's situation is so desperate that they have agreed to a four-day Twenty20 tournament also involving Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and hosts Canada.

It should surprise no one that Pakistan are scraping the bottom of the barrel. It is already September and they have not played a Test match home or away yet this year, and have nothing scheduled till India travel across the border in the new year. 2008 will go down as the first year since 1970 (a different era of cricket, much before the ICC's Future Tours programme came into being) when Pakistan have not played a single Test. Even in 2002, with terrorism concerns at their peak after the September 11, 2001 attacks in the USA, Pakistan managed 12 Tests, although only one of those was at home, with four being played in Sharjah, as neither West Indies nor Australia agreed to play in Pakistan.

Earlier this month, when the cricket world had a chance to stand by Pakistan in their hour of need, and play the Champions Trophy there, they backed out. What will the response be now, when terror has struck the Indian capital? This after all, is also the home of cricket's economic superpower, the BCCI.

 

[Goodperson]

It would be unfortunate but highly unlikely as India is a powerhouse of cricket BCCI even challenges ICC.

Such kind of terror acts should not affect sports like cricket.

 

[su-47]

Such kind of terror acts should not affect sports like cricket.

but they do. terrorists want to kill for the effect, and a bomb in a packed cricket stadium, killing a few hundred people and maybe a cricket star, is a wet dream for a terrorist.

we should everything possible in our power to ensure the security of the spectators and cricketers. everyone entering the stadium should be subject to security checks similar to those in an airport.

there should be no doubt in anyone's mind that we can safeguard our cricket stadiums.

 

[Goodperson]

Australia in India 2008-09
Indian tour safer than Pakistan
Cricinfo staff
September 15, 2008

The Australian Cricketers' Association does not believe the safety situation in India is as bad as in neighbouring Pakistan despite a serious terrorist attack in New Delhi on Saturday. Cricket Australia, which is waiting for a report on the bombings, has already postponed two engagements in Pakistan this year due to security concerns, but the chances are small of the four Tests in India being cancelled.

However, Paul Marsh, the chief executive of the Australian Cricketers' Association, said he expected "heat" if Australia toured India."If the team stays in India, there might be some who criticise us for double standards," he told the Sydney Morning Herald. "But people need to understand our starting point is that we always want to tour. We go to extreme lengths to obtain the best advice on the situation of each country we visit. In Pakistan's case this year, people we rely on told us not to tour. If they say not to tour again, we'll listen. Bombs going off anywhere are a concern."

More than 20 people were killed in the series of explosions in New Delhi, which will host the third Test from October 29. Cricket Australia has commissioned a report from Reg Dickason, their long-term security advisor, and a decision on the trip will be made after discussions with the Indian board, the Australian high commission in New Delhi and security agencies.

"The threat assessment for India has been considerably lower than that of Pakistan," Marsh said in the Australian. "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."

The A team is in Hyderabad, 1500km south of New Delhi, and will play a match against New Zealand A on Monday to start the tri-series. Australia have scheduled warm-up games in Jaipur and Hyderabad, where bombs have gone off over the past year, before heading to Bangalore, where one person was killed in attacks in July, for the opening Test on October 9.

© Cricinfo
Cricinfo - Indian tour safer than Pakistan

 

[Nafees]

Source: India blasts worry Aussies | Herald Sun

Jon Pierik
September 15, 2008 12:00am

CRICKET Australia will seek assurances this week that New Delhi is safe to visit after bomb blasts killed more than 20 people in the Indian capital on Saturday.

New Delhi is due to host the third Test, from October 29, in the Border-Gavaskar series which begins on October 9 in Bangalore.

While the Board of Control for Cricket in India said yesterday the Test would go ahead, CA is commissioning a report from security adviser Reg Dickason.

The bombings, reportedly planned by the Indian Mujahideen group, came a week before Australia is due to leave for the four-Test series.

CA spokesman Peter Young said yesterday a decision on visiting New Delhi would be made this week.

"The fundamental principle is that safety comes first," Young said.

BCCI secretary Niranjan Shah said his board was concerned by the explosions.

"But I don't think it will have any impact on the coming Australia series," he told the Hindustan Times.

There is no guarantee the Test will remain in New Delhi.

Australia has twice pulled out of tournaments in Pakistan this year because of safety and security fears.

It's not only New Delhi that has experienced trouble this year. Seven blasts in Bangalore in July caused a spate of injuries.

There were also terror attacks in Jaipur during the Indian Premier League, although they were not serious enough for Australian players such as Shane Warne and Shane Watson to return home.

Australia will be based in Jaipur for the first week of the tour, using facilities at the Rajasthan Cricket Association academy.

 

[U-571]

It would be unfortunate but highly unlikely as India is a powerhouse of cricket BCCI even challenges ICC.

Such kind of terror acts should not affect sports like cricket.

haaah, lol, power house, organizing ipl or making some flop movie(i guess) doesnt make bcci a hero in cricket, thnx to saki bhai who taught herbajan spin bowling, wasim akram who taught irfan phatto the swing. lol, politics has made pakistani team devoid of any merits, the bad coaching, lack of interest doesnt support the talented any more, the parchi system has made a safarchi more easy to book his place in the team, our team has become so much pathetic tht even muhallah team can beat these drunkin junkies!!!!

if talents r exploited then, pakistan cricket rulz the world!!!!!!!

 

[third eye]

haaah, lol, power house, organizing ipl or making some flop movie(i guess) doesnt make bcci a hero in cricket, thnx to saki bhai who taught herbajan spin bowling, wasim akram who taught irfan phatto the swing. lol, politics has made pakistani team devoid of any merits, the bad coaching, lack of interest doesnt support the talented any more, the parchi system has made a safarchi more easy to book his place in the team, our team has become so much pathetic tht even muhallah team can beat these drunkin junkies!!!!

if talents r exploited then, pakistan cricket rulz the world!!!!!!![/QUOTE]

It isn't about organising IPL or anything..its simply abt how much money BCCI pours into cricket.

Secondly..if aunty had Ba**s.. she would be an Uncle !! Whos stops anyone from exploiting talent ?

 

[muse]

In New Guinea, the high land peoples are differentiated by many small violent, insular tribes. These tribes meet once a year and that one meeting usually generates violence, the very sight of someone who is a stranger leads to violence.

Some people who post on these boards resemble those tribes in as much as they are immediately hostile towards the "other". A sad development to be sure and unworthy of peoples whose heritages are ancient and civil.

 

[U-571]

In New Guinea, the high land peoples are differentiated by many small violent, insular tribes. These tribes meet once a year and that one meeting usually generates violence, the very sight of someone who is a stranger leads to violence.

Some people who post on these boards resemble those tribes in as much as they are immediately hostile towards the "other". A sad development to be sure and unworthy of peoples whose heritages are ancient and civil.

lol, muse, do this points at me???, well i clear tht, ppl fail to judge the facts, the facts r, aussies rnt playing in pakistan since 1998, they r ready to play i india in those cities where the "explosions and violence" was staged!!!, , they played in rajhistan, who cares abt the dangerous racist RSS and bajrang dal, and VHP, they always like to spread nuissance and harrass indians, they r so racist, who trust them, tht they will not spare these "whites" to play here, recently v had hootings from indians against "andrew symonds". if the things get too far, i lose patience!!!!, well some thing is wrong with aussies, they need to get their brains operated to remove the illness of "narrominded thinking"!!!, and sry neo, probably i am acting more like cold blood killer!!!

and by the way neo, u scraped the wrong post!!, lol!!!

 

[Goodperson]

haaah, lol, power house, organizing ipl or making some flop movie(i guess) doesnt make bcci a hero in cricket, thnx to saki bhai who taught herbajan spin bowling, wasim akram who taught irfan phatto the swing. lol, politics has made pakistani team devoid of any merits, the bad coaching, lack of interest doesnt support the talented any more, the parchi system has made a safarchi more easy to book his place in the team, our team has become so much pathetic tht even muhallah team can beat these drunkin junkies!!!!

if talents r exploited then, pakistan cricket rulz the world!!!!!!!

LOL, Who taught Shoaib boozing and running behind girls.

 

[muse]

U571

No it does not point to you - it points to those of us from Pakistan and India. We do not have to immediately become hostile just because they from India and have a different point of view and we most certainly not tolerate that they will become hostile.

This is a discussion forum and everyone can be valuable - but for people to open themselves to others, a bit of restraint is called for and of course behind each poster there is a human being and a human heart - does not mena they are right - but still we can influence no one if we are not open to them and do not empathize with them - their ideas may be right for them, it may be that it is all they know.

Yes, it's difficult but we can make the effort.