Jaipur blasts scare Warne, Smith; may quit IPL

RUNNING SCARED: Leg spin legend Shane Warne is the captain cum coach of Rajasthan Royals team.

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Keywords: Rajasthan Royals, Shane Watson

Melbourne: The serial blasts in Jaipur may take its toll on the ongoing Indian Premier League as Australian stars Shane Warne and Shane Watson and South African Graeme Smith are considering quitting the tournament, according to media reports.

Rajasthan Royals' Warne, Watson, Smith and team manager Darren Berry - now holidaying in Goa - are very scared after the incident and are refusing to return to Jaipur.

They are even considering leaving India altogether.

"(There's) a real option of getting on the plane and getting out of here. We are not comfortable at all. This is an extremely uncomfortable situation," Berry was quoted as saying by Macquarie National News.

Berry said his family members in Australia were concerned about his safety in India.

"Cricket has been good to me, but I have a wife and three kids back in Melbourne and they are less than impressed with the part of the world I am in."

Berry said Warne was also worried due to the bomb blasts that killed more than 60 people in Rajasthan's capital.

"I was talking to Warnie and asked, 'If this blast had occurred a day before we were due to fly over here, would we still have come?' He said there was no way we would have come. It is terrifying. To think I was standing in the exact location the bombs went off only two days ago...it was a couple of kilometres from the team hotel."

"The whole country has gone into lockdown," he said.

Rajasthan Royals are next meeting Bangalore Royal Challengers in their home leg encounter on May 17 and although IPL Chairman and commissioner Lalit Modi has assured that extra security will be put in place for the tie, Berry is anxious about the evening.

"That is the part that scares me. These games are getting big crowds. People over here tell me this has nothing to do with cricket, it is political ...but if some people are prepared to cause this type of damage, detonating bombs in peak-hour to harm the most number of people possible...50,000 people come to the stadium to watch the games," Berry said.

Rajasthan Royal Media Manager Narender Joshi, however, told CNN-IBN that they haven't been communicated about the players' decision to quit IPL.

"All players will be back in Jaipur by tomorrow. Darren and Shane will be in Jaipur by tomorrow. Darren hasn't communicated to us about it. Even Shane Warne has never shown any desire to go back to Australia. There is no meeting going on amongst players right now and they haven't raised any issues. They just want to know the security that will be provided. Even we have conveyed them about the security arrangements. They haven't asked for any security cover," Joshi said.