Oz cricketers told to participate in IPL at own risk

Sydney, Jan 26(ANI): Australian cricketers have been told to participate in the third edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) at their own risk after the players' association said it was worried about not being given access to security arrangements.

The issue arose again after the right-wing Shiv Sena party reiterated its threat to target Australians entering Mumbai or Maharastra in retaliation for attacks on Indian students and taxi drivers in Australia.

The international and Australian players' associations are anxious to be allowed access to the IPL security arrangements, but the organization, like the Board of Control for Cricket in India, refuses in principle to deal with agents or players' associations.

"Negotiations are ongoing," Fox Sports quoted Paul Marsh, CEO of Australian Cricketers Association, as saying.

"No decisions have been made, we need to understand what threats there may be, but that is still up in the air and if they can't get them to give us access it will make it difficult for us to recommend that the players go, which is not to say it is unsafe, but if we can't access the plan we are not in a position to say it is ok," he added.

Meanwhile, Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland said he is monitoring the situation.

"Our perspective on that is pretty simple: we're saddened to hear people taking this sort of approach, we really believe that cricket should be and can be a real bridge between communities all around the world," Sutherland said.

"In a practical sense for us the real issue is for our players to understand the gravity of the situation and we will do our own research talking to the security people we ordinarily speak to at government and other private sources to really make a judgment and ensure our players are as best informed as possible before they take steps to go and play in the IPL," he added.

Earlier, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting had said that players would demand guarantees of absolute safety before traveling to India for this year's IPL. (ANI)