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Friday, November 28, 2008

No amount of money is worth going to Mumbai: Warne

Melbourne: Australian spin wizard Shane Warne was shocked seeing the TV footage of the terror strikes in Mumbai while in transit at the Changi international aiport and did not take the connecting Mumbai flight to play in the inaugural Champions League tournament.

The Champions League has since been postponed in view of the terror strikes.

Warne, captain of the Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Rajasthan Royals in the eight-team tournament, was travelling with former Victorian wicketkeeper Darren Berry and was to stay at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel that has been siezed by terrorists.

When he walked into the transit lounge at Singapore airport this morning, he looked up at the TV and could not believe what he was seeing.

"I'm shocked. Chuck (Berry) and I got off the plane and saw the news on TV. It's unbelievable.

The place is chaos. We are heading to Mumbai and that's the hotel we are staying at," Warne was quoted as saying by the Herald Sun.

Warne said he had pulled his bags from the connecting flight and would stay put at the Singapore airport and wait for further information. Warne said he had been in contact with the Rajasthan Royals owner, who had been talking to the South African firm handling security.

"I reckon we are certainties to be on a flight heading home later today. It is just not worth the risk. No amount of money is worth the risk with what is going on over there at the moment," Warne said.

The decision to postpone the Champions League was taken Thursday by the league's Governing Council after consultations with the three founding board members -- Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), Cricket Australia (CA) and Cricket South Africa (CSA).

Mumbai is one of the three venues of the eight-nation tournament, which was scheduled to kick-off on December 3.

Source: Indo-Asian News Service

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