Nothing hypocritical about touring India: CA

MELBOURNE: Blasts in India do not trigger the kind of security concerns that they do in Pakistan's case, says Cricket Australia while insisting that it cannot be accused of hypocrisy if it opts to play in India but refuses to tour Pakistan for the Champions Trophy.
Australia tour India in October and would be carrying out a security inspection in the country next month to assess the situation.
CA spokesman Peter Young said it was a routine exercise and cited the example of the 2005 London bombings after which the Aussies did a security check before deciding to stay back for completing the Ashes series.
"We only go where security advice tells us is safe. The same question was asked about the London bombings during the '05 Ashes tour when we did not go to Pakistan in March," CA's general manager of public affairs Peter Young was quoted as saying by 'The Australian'.
"As far as London was concerned we kept the team out of there until security advice was emphatic that it was safe. We go through the same process every tour. It's as simple as that," he added.
Besides the national team, two Australian domestic teams -- Victoria and Western Australia -- are also scheduled to tour India for the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League.
Victoria coach Greg Shipperd, who also coached the Delhi Daredevils during the IPL, hoped that the situation would improve.
"It's not something that I've discussed with Cricket Victoria or our team at this stage. Obviously if there was an escalation we'd change our view but at this stage we intend to compete in the tournament," he said.
Western Australia coach Tom Moody, who coached Mohali in the IPL, echoed the view.
"We'll follow similar guidelines to Cricket Australia. Pakistan has a longer history of incidents than most other places," he said.
Meanwhile, Australian Cricketers Association chief executive Paul Marsh said the weekend bombings in Bangalore and Ahmedabad were a concern but "ACA would continue to go through the security processes with Cricket Australia, as we always do."