New row over Test venue mars efforts to save cricket tour

Brigadier Saeed Rafi, sent by the Pakistan Cricket Board to discuss the threat by Hindu militants to the tour starting this month, held his first meetings with Indian cricket officials.

The talks were overshadowed by the New Delhi administration's inability to provide adequate security for the first Test on January 28 at the Ferozeshah Kotla ground, where Hindu zealots opposed to the tour dug up the wicket last week. Delhi Chief Minister Shiela Dixit said the Test coincided with India's annual Republic Day celebrations, when police and para-military troops are deployed across the capital.

Dixit wanted Delhi to switch places with the southern city of Madras, the venue of the second Test from February 4, but the Board of Control for Cricket in India refused to change the itinerary.

``It will be difficult to shift matches now because the travel arrangements have already been made,'' Indian board secretary Jayawant Lele said. Lele said a final decision would be taken when board president Raj Singh Dungarpur returns from New Zealand on Thursday from a meeting of the International Cricket Council.

Cricket officials in Madras said they were ready for any last-minute change. ``We are ready to hold the first Test if the board wants us to,'' said Ashok Kumbhat, chief organiser of the Test match at the Chepauk ground in Madras.

Delhi cricket chief Ram Babu Gupta said the board's decision was awaited, but stressed arrangements had been made to hold the first Test as scheduled. ``Everything is in place, even the wicket has been repaired,'' said Gupta, a former Test umpire. ``We are waiting for the Pakistanis to arrive.''

The Pakistani team, which last played a Test in India in March 1987, is to arrive here January 21 for a two-Test series, the Asian Test championship opener against India and a triangular one-day series also featuring Sri Lanka.

Security concerns about the tour were raised when supporters of firebrand Hindu leader Bal Thackeray, who opposes the matches, dug up the New Delhi pitch.

Hindu fanatics say India should not play cricket with Pakistan because of the latter's alleged support to Indian insurgents. The Indian government has pledged to protect the visiting players, but Pakistan says it will monitor the situation until the last minute.