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Terror-hit India vows to resume cricket schedule

NEW DELHI - Cricket’s commercial powerhouse India on Friday vowed to put the country’s favourite sport back on track after the deadly Mumbai attacks forced international matches to be cancelled.

Indian officials appeared unfazed after England abandoned their one-day series and the multi-million dollar Twenty20 Champions League was postponed until an unspecified date.

“In the circumstances it was the right thing to do, but there is no doubt cricket will start again soon,” said senior Indian cricket official Lalit Modi, the brain behind the lucrative Twenty20 revolution.

The immediate task before Indian cricket chiefs was to convince Kevin Pietersen’s England to return for the two-Test series scheduled to start in Ahmedabad on December 11.

The second Test was to be played in Mumbai where security forces are still battling armed militants, whose coordinated attacks in the commercial capital have left at least 130 dead.

The attacks at first seemed likely to cause a lean period for international cricket for India, similar to that in neighbouring Pakistan, which has gone without a Test match in 2008 after teams refused to tour there because of security concerns.

But the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) said it was confident the full fixture list would soon be resumed.

“The Test series against England will go ahead as scheduled,” Modi insisted as he talked to reporters in Mumbai.

“We are looking at another city to host the second Test in place of Mumbai and an announcement will be made soon.”

England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) official Hugh Morris, who held talks with Indian officials until late Thursday, appeared to back Modi’s claim.

“The players are keen to play international cricket,” Morris said as England prepared to fly home later on Friday.

“There is a significant issue affecting everybody in India and around the world at the moment, and the players are aware of that.

“The Test matches are in place as it stands, and at the moment our plan is to come back. If our security report says it is safe and secure to do so, that is what we will do.”

Modi also insisted that the inaugural Twenty20 Champions League from December 3-10 had been postponed due to logistical problems, rather than security fears.

Mumbai was due to host three of the 15 games in the six-million dollar tournament featuring leading Twenty20 teams from Australia, South Africa, India, England and Pakistan.

“All the teams wanted the Champions League to go ahead and only wanted Mumbai removed as a venue,” Modi said.

“But it was not logistically possible to change a venue at such short notice so we proposed it be postponed.

“But I can assure you it will be held soon, and in India.”

The situation in India will be keenly followed by cricketers around the world who have signed lucrative contracts to play in the second season of the Twenty20 Indian Premier League next April.

The International Cricket Council will be equally concerned as India contributes an estimated 70 percent of the sport’s revenues because of its vast cricket-mad television audiences.