Aussies coming but Pak cries foul

Calling it double standard, PCB says Australia have no guts to boycott India tour

MUMBAI: Cricket Australia has categorically declared that its tour of India is on. “Unless otherwise advised by our security experts, the team will be leaving for India on September 21,” the CA asserted.

The announcement, understandably, was music to the ears of the Indian Cricket Board which promptly welcomed the decision. “It was never in doubt. The announcement settles the whole issue,” Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Niranjan Shah said. “We will provide best possible security to the players.”

But elsewhere the announcement attracted instant reaction, if not condemnation. The Pakistan Cricket Board, immediately cried foul stating the CA is adopting double standards. “I don’t expect Australia to boycott the tour because the money involved with India is big. But when they reach India, they would be answerable to Pakistan. If they are satisfied with the assurance of the BCCI and the Indian Government, they should have accepted the Pakistan Government’s and Pakistan Cricket Board’s assurance as well,” PCB’s operation manager Shafqat Naghmi told DNA from Karachi.

He even did not hesitate to declare that the PCB would consider exploring legal options. But CA’s Communications manager Peter Young defended the decision.

“We have a basic safety first principle backed with a standard, rigorous process we use to seek expert safety and security advice. We then act on the advice. If the advice says it is not safe, we don’t go, as was the case with Pakistan in 2002 and again twice this year. If the safety advice says it is, on normal probabilities and according to normal prudent risk assessment, safe to go, then we go. This has been the case with India in recent years.”

According to him the advice on Pakistan this year was that it was not safe for the Australian team to travel. He also clarified: “The current advice on India, which we are reviewing, says the situation in India is very different to that in Pakistan.”

Young also revealed that the Australian ‘A’ players, currently touring India, are keen to continue their tour. “Our A team is in Hyderabad and the players are keen to stay in India and complete their tour. Security around that team has been upgraded.”

Hitting out at the CA, the PCB official said that Australia’s reluctance to visit Pakistan is not just because of safety concerns. “I would like to know why they don’t want to visit out country. They owe as an explanation when they tour India,” Naghmi said.

When questioned, the BCCI said it had no intention of interfering in the bilateral matter between two boards but maintained that security was never a concern for the Indian players in Pakistan.