What’s the story?
The Board of Control for Cricket in India has raised security concerns about the Indian team's security in England during the upcoming Champions Trophy after the city of Manchester was rocked by a terrorist attack.
"When I woke up, the first thing which I learnt was about these attacks. As soon as I was in the BCCI office we sent out a message raising our concerns about the security of the Indian team's travel, accommodation and the playing (arena). Thankfully ICC has responded to it within two hours. They have been sensitised about our concern. Obviously, these attacks are in nature of a terrorist attack. This is something which can affect any individual on the planet. The security concerns are that much more intense," Chaudhary was as quoted by the PTI.
However, he also maintained that as of the current moment, the schedule of the Indian team remains unchanged.
The Details
Chaudhary has also made it very clear that the security concerns are very overwhelming and it does not need any team to come up and speak to them about the gravity of the situation.
The Virat Kohli-led Indian team is slated to depart for the United Kingdom on Wednesday, May 24.
C K Khanna, the acting BCCI president has informed that the Indian board is in close touch with the ICC and that consultant of its Anti-Corruption unit, Neeraj Kumar, who is the former Delhi Police Commissioner will leave for England tonight.
In case you didn’t know...
The city of Manchester was rocked by a bomb blast at the end of an Ariana Grande concert. The blast has so far killed 22 people and has left as many as 59 people injured. Manchester police has issued a statement which claims that the man who carried out the attack was also killed in the arena.
Following this, the International Cricket Council called an emergency meeting to discuss the security issues pertaining to the upcoming Champions Trophy.
An ICC release on its Media Twitter handle read, “We operate on advice from our Tournament Security Directorate - in conjunction with the ECB and relevant authorities - to ensure that we have a robust safety and security plan for both tournaments.
“We will continue to work with authorities over the coming hours and days and review our security in line with the threat levels.”
What's next?
Security arrangements will now be closely monitored by all the participating nations as a bomb blast is a serious issue and the BCCI would not want to leave anything to chance before the Indian team leaves for the United Kingdom.
The ICC will also have to review all the arrangements and will have to win back the confidence of the member nations.
Author's Take
The security of players and officials are paramount and there can no be missing dots when this is concerned.
Thus the ICC and the BCCI will have to be convinced about all such concerns before waving the green flag.
There should be no grey areas and all the member nations and the ICC should make all arrangements perfectly watertight!
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