Abduction plot hearing heightens IPL security fears

New Delhi: Fears over the threat to cricket posed by terrorism grew this week after it was disclosed that two leading Indian players were the targets of a kidnap plot by Islamist militants.

A court in India has heard that a Pakistan-based Islamist group planned to abduct the country's former national captain, Sourav Ganguly, and Test batsman Sachin Tendulkar.

The confession was made by Tariq Mohammad and Ashfaq Ahmad, who were members of the Harkat ul-Jihadi Islami (Islamic Holy War Movement), a Kashmiri separatist organisation that draws inspiration from Osama Bin Laden and the Taliban.

They told detectives that they had trained in Afghanistan and entered India from Bangladesh on a mission to kidnap the two stars to force the release of two terrorist leaders being held in Indian jails.

Although the confessions were made in 2002, they have sent a chill through the Indian cricket establishment after the gun attacks on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore.

Details of the plot emerged as the Indian Premier League dropped Delhi and Jaipur as host venues for the forthcoming Twenty-20 cricket tournament, amid fears that terrorists might attack matches or abduct top cricket stars. P. Chidambaram, the Indian home minister, had voiced doubts over whether the tournament could go ahead during the elections.

The Telegraph Group Limited, London 2009