NEW DELHI: The itinerary for the England cricket team’s tour of India has been altered after terrorist attacks in Mumbai last week, the Board of Control for Cricket in India said yesterday.
The opening Test match will now be played from Dec. 11-15 in the southern city of Chennai and the northern Indian city of Mohali will host the second Test from Dec. 19-23. Chennai was chosen as an alternative venue to Mumbai, where terrorist attacks killed at least 172 people last week. The Indian board also changed the venue of the other Test match from Ahmadabad, which had originally been set to host the opening Test.
The lone warmup game from Dec. 5-7 was dropped from the schedule, Indian cricket board secretary N. Srinivasan said yesterday. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) would give clearance to the tour only after its security expert had assessed the venues, Srinivasan added.
The two cricket boards are exploring the chances of playing the Test matches as originally scheduled even after England’s cricketers returned home following the attack on Mumbai.
The last two one-dayers of the seven-match series, which India leads 5-0, were canceled.
The ECB also asked its second-string performance squad to return home from Bangalore.
England had originally been scheduled to return on Dec. 16 to Mumbai’s Taj Mahal Palace hotel, one of two luxury hotels targeted in the attacks. Indian organizers have also postponed the Champions League Twenty20 tournament that was to be played Dec. 3-10 at three venues — Mumbai, Chennai and Bangalore — featuring eight teams. Teams from Australia, South Africa, England and Pakistan had been scheduled to play in the inaugural Champions League.
ICC suspends Razzak for suspect bowling action
In Dhaka, the International Cricket Council has suspended Bangladesh left-arm spinner Abdur Razzak for an illegal bowling action, pending a fresh assessment. The sport’s world governing body said yesterday Razzak’s suspension followed an independent analysis in Australia that confirmed his bowling action was suspect under current ICC regulations.
The bowling review was ordered after he was reported by umpires Daryl Harper and Asoka de Silva for a suspect action at the end of Bangladesh’s home series against New Zealand in October. There were no immediate comment from Razzak or the BCB.
