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Home > Cricket > PTI > Report


We don't live in a perfect world: Dravid

K Kumaraswamy in Colombo | August 16, 2006 22:15 IST

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Indian captain Rahul Dravid on Wednesday said that he shared South Africa's concerns over the security situation in Sri Lanka and that his team had decided to stay back based on the guarantees of safety given to them by the Sri Lankan government.

The South Africans decided to pull out of the Unitech tri-nation cricket series, which was to begin on August 14, in the wake of a fatal bomb blast in Colombo on Monday but India have opted to stay put to play a three-match ODI series against the hosts.

The Proteas' decision came after an independent security team of the International Cricket Council reported that 'the current risk to the team' was at an 'unacceptable level.'

Dravid did not see any contradiction in India preferring to stay on while the African team headed back home.

"South Africa has gone by the recommendations of their people. We have spoken to the officials in the Sri Lankan board, the Sri Lankan government and the Indian High Commission," Dravid said at a media conference in Colombo.

"We have full confidence and faith in what they have to say and made our decision based on that," he added.

Asked if terrorism was a constant threat to visiting teams and would affect cricket in the subcontinent in the long run, Dravid said, "I don't know. It is sad, and it was unfortunate that the (triangular) series had to be called off. We don't live in a perfect world."

"We share a good relations ship with Sri Lankan cricket. These are difficult times and we cannot blame anyone," he said, adding: "We have come here to play cricket and everyone in our team is conscious of the importance that cricket enjoys in Sri Lanka as well as India. Hopefully we can bring some joy to the people here, and they will have something to cheer about."

Dravid said every member of the team was keen to get on with the game and they were more bothered about the inclement weather than the security threats.

"Never did anyone come up and say that he wants to go home. Everyone is keen to play. We are probably worried more about the weather than the security. Hopefully the weather will hold out from now on."

© Copyright 2006 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.

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Number of User Comments: 8




Sub: Kudos to Team India

Kudos to the entire team for having courage to counter the situation in Sri Lanka and keep playing the game of cricket


Posted by S. Ravikumar





Sub: Indian Cricket Team in SL

Nothing is perfect in this amaging world .... we do not know what can happen in the next moment!!!!!!It is good idea that Indian Cricket ...


Posted by Vinay





Sub: Good Decision

India take good decision by playing in Sri Lanka as it is our nieghbour country & we should share their feelings(thing is they are not ...


Posted by Balakrishna P





Sub: I agree with Dravid

Life is very important for each and every person. Cricketers play game for the country and not for themselves.Whenever you go out to play for ...


Posted by Praveen





Sub: Kudos to the Indian team

I appreciate the stand of Indian cricket team. They have done the right thing by not pulling out of the series. They realise that they ...


Posted by Naveen




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