Blasts seal India's fate at Toronto series

new delhi: if it was the kargil war last year, now the indiscriminate bombings in jammu and kashmir have forced the government to ask the cricket board to pull the indian team out of the sahara cup series in toronto. when sports minister sukhdev singh dhindsa came to know of the bombings in srinagar on thursday, he asked joint secretary in the ministry, j.p.singh, to get in touch with board secretary jayawant lele in pune and inform him of the government''s decision. a fax message followed stating that ``....in the present circumstances, it is inappropriate to play pakistan in toronto.'''' the wordings of the message were the same last year too. dhindsa said the indian team would not participate in a bilateral series against pakistan as long as that country goes on encouraging killings of innocent people in kashmir and elsewhere. though as a nodal ministry for clearance of all tours, the sports ministry took the initiative, it could have got the nod from the prime minister''s office as well as external and home ministries. the five-match series, scheduled from september 9 to 17, was in jeopardy after the recent income-tax raids on some players'' premises, as both the government and the board didn''t know how to go ahead with the series under the circumstances as the coach and two senior players were under cloud. the government was also considering a ban on india playing in sharjah, singapore and nairobi as these were proving to be major centres of betting and match-fixing. but the bombings sealed the fate of the toronto series. board president a c muthiah in a fax from chennai said, ``if the government has taken a decision not to permit the indian cricket team to go to toronto, the board will abide by the decision.'''' then what seemed to be a knee-jerk reaction, he added, ``i suppose the same logic will apply to participation in the olympics by the indian athletes and the indian hockey team.'''' obviously, the board chief missed the point that the objection here was to a bilateral arrangement between the two countries based on commercial considerations and the series was cancelled in protest against the cross-border terrorism by pakistan. lele, however, set the record somewhat straight when he told the times of india late on thursday night that he welcomed the decision in the circumstances in which it had been taken. ``that''s the only decision the government could have taken.'''' sponsors international management group also got in touch with the board secretary to get the news confirmed and wanted to know if the board would be interested in any arrangement similar to the one they had last year when the series was cancelled following a call by former captain kapil dev after a visit to kargil. lele said the board could consider the proposal if and when it is made. when the series was cancelled last year, the organisers hastily arranged a series between west indies against india and pakistan to offset the losses incurred owing to the cancellation of the indo-pak series. img vice-president andrew wildblood spoke to lele and hinted the organisers might come up with a proposal to get both india and pakistan over to play a third country again. south africa and sri lanka are free and can step in. the board has apparently had some inkling that the series might not come off when it postponed the meeting of the selection committee, which was to have met in mumbai on thursday, to august 19 in bangalore.