Lanka to play Test in Delhi despite blasts

BY SA'ADI Thawfeeq

SRI LANKA will not make a request to the Indian cricket authorities for a change of venue following Saturday's bomb blasts in New Delhi which left 61 people dead and 188 wounded.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) programs and fixtures committee which met on Friday allotted Delhi, Kanpur and Chennai as the venues for the three Tests to be played between Sri Lanka and India from December 2 to 22.

But Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) CEO Duleep Mendis said yesterday that the venues will remain as decided by the Indian Board.

"At this moment of time we will not make any moves to alter the venues because we have not heard anything of a serious nature from the Indian Cricket Board," said Mendis.

"If at all there is some concern playing the Test in Delhi the Indian cricket authorities will advice us," he said.

In releasing the venues, BCCI has stated that the order of the venues would be decided later taking into account the travel plans of the Sri Lanka team.

The blasts supposed to be set off by militants opposed to the peace process with Pakistan ripped through a bus and two crowded markets on Saturday night as shoppers readied for the religious Diwali Hindu festival on Tuesday.

The BCCI also stated that SLC had not requested for a warm-up game before the Test series and as of now there is no plans to organise such a match.

However Mendis said that as far as he was aware a warm-up match was part of the itinerary.

"If it is not included in the itinerary we will make a request for it. We made a similar request ahead of the on-going one-day series and were granted a practice game," said Mendis.

Although they have toured India previously on five occasions, Sri Lanka have not played a Test match in Delhi. The upcoming tour in December will see them play their first ever Test match in the Indian capital.

On their first ever Test tour to India in 1982-83, Sri Lanka played a one-off Test at Chennai (then known as Madras) and four years later in 1986-87, they played a Test match at Kanpur. Both Tests ended in high scoring draws.

Sri Lanka have yet to win a Test match in India. The 11 Tests played there has resulted in six defeats and five draws.

The Sri Lanka team is currently on the first leg of their tour of India which includes a series of seven one-day internationals. Sri Lanka are trailing 0-2 in the series after losing the first two matches played at Nagpur and Mohali. The third match starts at Jaipur today.