First India-Pakistan Test shifted from New Delhi

The Board of Control for Cricket in India said it would now be played in the southern city of Madras from January 28 until February 1.

Board secretary J.Y. Lele was quoted as saying that New Delhi would host the second Test, which was to have been played in Madras, from February 4 to 8.

The swap followed a request from the home ministry, which argued that New Delhi police may not be able to provide adequate security for the first Test because of India's Republic Day celebrations on January 26.

Hindu zealots allied to India's coalition government dug up the New Delhi cricket ground last week and threatened to sabotage the first Test to protest against Pakistan's alleged support for Indian insurgents.

The Pakistani cricket team is set to arrive here on January 21 for its first Test series on Indian soil for 12 years.

Earlier Tuesday, Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is determined to hold the series, urged Thackeray, an ally, not to sabotage it.

Vajpayee told reporters in the northern city of Lucknow that it was his duty to ensure that no harm came to the visiting Pakistanis.

``I also hope better sense will now prevail and Thackeray will not sabotage Pakistan cricket team's tour of India,'' the United News of India quoted the Prime Minister as saying.

Vajpayee said his coalition government, which includes Thackeray's Shiv Sena party that rules Bombay, would ensure that the tour passed off peacefully.

``It is the duty of the government,'' he said.

Indian cricket officials had earlier argued it would not be easy to shift the venue of the first Test as travel arrangements had already been made.

Cricket officials in Madras have said they were ready for any last-minute change.

``We are ready to hold the first Test if the board wants us to,'' said Ashok Kumbhat, chief organiser of the Test in Madras.

Also Tuesday, Pakistani cricket official Brigadier Saeed Rafi held talks with his Indian counterparts here to salvage the series.

The Pakistani team, which last played a Test in India in March 1987, is scheduled for a two-Test series, the Asian Test championship opener against India and a triangular one-day series also featuring Sri Lanka.