Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) on Monday asked Indian Premier League (IPL) authorities to show "common sense" and share the security plans with it so that it can advice players on their participation in the IPL III next month.
ACA chief executive Paul Marsh said that the Australian players want a successful IPL but the Twenty20 league's refusal to share security plans was taking the matter towards a "farcical situation".
"We hope common sense prevails and the IPL provides us with access to these plans because if we are unable to assess the event's security plans, we simply won't be able to recommend to our players that we believe its safe to play in this year's IPL," Marsh said in an e-mail interview.
"Unfortunately this is turning into a farcical situation. The ACA and our players want the same thing as the IPL wants -- a safe and successful event," he said.
"But despite requests from players' associations and the players themselves, the IPL is refusing to provide access to its security plans for this year's event," he added.
Marsh said that the ACA is currently gathering information from different sources before recommending anything to its players. "No decision has been made as to whether Australians will play in this year's IPL. The ACA is currently going through an information gathering process from which recommendations will be made to players as to whether or not we believe it is safe for them," Marsh said.
"This process also involves receiving advice from our government and independent security sources. It also involves assessing the security plans for the event," he said.
Two days back, New Zealand Cricket Players' Association chief Heath Mills had said that its players were feeling "frustrated" by the IPL not sharing security plans with player associations.
"We have already approached the IPL through FICA and Tim May and the players have written to their franchises. Unfortunately, the IPL will not engage us or work with us on the issue which is frustrating for us and the players," Mills had said.
"Players are coming to us for advice. However we cannot give them any quality advice at the moment about participating in the IPL as we have no information about the security situation or management plans," Mills added.
