DHAKA, Dec 5: The Indian cricket team's tour of Bangladesh, slated to begin on Tuesday, became uncertain owing to a reported death threat issued on Sunday by a little-known, self-styled militant group in Dhaka.

The president-elect of the Board for Control of Cricket in India, Ranbir Singh Mahendra, told the Press Trust of India news agency that the Indian team will not leave for Bangladesh before Dec 8 on an advice from the government.

"We have received a letter from the government asking us not to leave for Bangladesh before Dec 8," he said. The Bangladesh Cricket Board, however, was confident the tour would go ahead. It said on Sunday evening that the Indian team would arrive on time to play two Test matches and three one-day internationals as per the schedule fixed earlier.

The board was keeping close touch with the government, the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, and the Indian cricket board to ensure that the tour went ahead as planned.

BCCI joint secretary Goutam Dasgupta said the board had informed its Bangladesh counterpart about the delay in departure and also that it was waiting for clearance from the Indian government, PTI reported from New Delhi.

The news agency quoted Indian sports minister Sunil Dutt as saying that the government had asked the BCCI to "hold on till the government takes a decision on the tour".

Officials of the Indian ministries of external affairs, home and sports - besides those of the BCCI - are scheduled to leave for Dhaka on Monday "to assess the situation" in the light of the threat handed out by the Harkat-ul-Jihad in a letter to the Indian High Commission in Dhaka.

The four-member Indian observation team will examine the security aspect of the two venues, in Dhaka and Chittagong, where India would play the matches against Bangladesh.

BCB chief executive officer Macky Dudhia said on Sunday that the board had already prepared an observation schedule for the Indian team so that it could examine the venues and take a decision as quickly as possible.