New Delhi, April 25 (Inditop) Indian cricket board’s Chief Administrative Officer Ratnakar Shetty Saturday expressed surprise over Australia’s decision to pull out of the Davis Cup tie against India in Chennai May 8-10 and citing the Indian Premier League’s (IPL) move to South Africa because of security reasons.
Shetty told Inditop from Mumbai that there cannot be any comparison between Board of Control for Cricket in India’s (BCCI) decision to shift the IPL out of the country and playing the Davis Cup tie in Chennai.
“Tennis Australia’s decision was more perplexing, considering the fact that the England cricket team played a Test in Chennai soon after 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks.
“When England could play a Test match in Chennai for five days, why can’t a three-day Davis Cup tie be played there,” he asked, recalling the excellent security arrangements made by Tamil Nadu government for the Test.
Shetty said the Australians could have any other reason for refusing to play in Chennai, but not security.
Shetty took exception to some former Australian tennis players citing security reasons for the relocation of the IPL.
“There cannot be any comparison between IPL and the Davis Cup tie. The IPL has 59 matches played over a month and a half whereas the Davis Cup tie is of only five rubbers played over three days. The IPL was shifted because the matches were overlapping with the general elections in six of the eight states and so the security could not be provided for both.
“Moreover, Tamil Nadu was one of the states which was prepared to provide full security for the IPL and it clearly shows that there was no security problem there,” said Shetty.
rounak