September 18, 2008	Thursday	Ramazan 17, 1429

CANBERRA, Sept 17: Security concerns in the wake of a series of bomb attacks could still scupper the Australian cricket team’s upcoming tour of India, captain Ricky Ponting indicated on Wednesday.

The team and officials will constantly monitor the situation with the assistance of the Australian government ahead of their scheduled departure this weekend, Ponting said.

“Anything could happen tomorrow, things change very quickly in the world right at the moment,” he told reporters in Canberra.

“Cricket Australia (CA) will continue to be in touch and the government will continue to be in touch, and CA will keep us players and the players’ association in the loop on a daily, if not hourly basis.”

CA said on Tuesday the tour would go ahead despite five coordinated bomb blasts which ripped through crowded markets across the Indian capital on Saturday evening, killing more than 20 people besides injuring dozens.

The 15-man Australian squad is due to leave this weekend with the first of four Tests starting in Bangalore on Oct 9. Delhi will host one Test match from Oct 29.

Ponting said Australia’s foreign affairs department had been providing detailed information to CA about the security situation.

CA’s General Manager Michael Brown rejected claims that the tour of India would go ahead despite the bombings because of money or the power of Indian cricket’s governing body.

While there were reciprocal obligations with India in terms of tours, security would always be central to deciding whether a tour went ahead.

“The only reason we can’t play and participate is for security reasons and we’ll keep monitoring those as time goes by,” Brown said.

CA’s decision to go ahead with the tour of India drew scathing criticism from Pakistan on Tuesday.

Australia was one of the nations that declined to tour Pakistan this month for the ICC Champions Trophy on security grounds, which led to the tournament being put off by a year.

Australia also refused to undertake a Test tour of Pakistan in March-April for similar security fears.

Pakistan Cricket Board’s (PCB) Chief Operating Officer Shafqat Naghmi said their decision to tour India 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,” Naghmi said.—AFP