Cricket: Vettori leaves tour decision to the players

New Zealand skipper Dan Vettori says the decision to travel to India is an 'individual thing.' Photo / Hawke's Bay Today

New Zealand players should make their own decisions whether to travel to India for next month's Indian Premier League, says captain Dan Vettori.

Speaking a day after teammate Jacob Oram expressed doubts over whether he would play in the lucrative Twenty20 competition in the wake of the Lahore terrorist attack this week, three months after the Mumbai killings, Vettori described it as "a very individual thing".

"Jacob probably spoke from the heart and he is that sort of guy," Vettori said. "A lot of the other players will trust from what New Zealand Cricket does and the Players Association says about security around all subcontinent tours in the future."

Vettori said the important thing would be to take heed of the security experts' opinions on safety.

With the situation "so fluid right now in that part of the world" players needed to scrutinise every decision before venturing to the subcontinent.

Players Association boss Heath Mills yesterday said the world players' body, Fica, had been trying for several weeks without luck to get information from the Indian board on security plans during the IPL, which is scheduled to start on April 10.

"Once and for all, this [Lahore attack] ought to have put safety and security as the No 1 priority for the International Cricket Council," Mills said.

"They must immediately implement world benchmark safety standards. We can't have situations where independent security consultants aren't involved."

Mills said no New Zealand player had advised that he did not want to go to the IPL, but several had asked what was being done on the security issue.

"We need to be working with [India's board] and the IPL to understand what plans they have in place."

Meanwhile, a Pakistani official admitted that "very vivid" security lapses allowed gunmen to ambush the Sri Lankan cricket team and escape.

His admission followed allegations by a referee caught up in Tuesday's terrorism that police abandoned him like a "sitting duck". Video showed the gunmen sauntering down a deserted side street, apparently leaving with no fear of pursuit.

Lahore police chief Khusro Pervez told local media that the gunmen should have been battled "by back-up police support which didn't arrive".

- ADDITIONAL REPORTING: AP