The Professional Cricketers' Association is investigating claims that players were pressured to go ahead with Saturday's Indian Premier League (IPL) match between Royal Challengers and Mumbai Indians despite a bomb blast outside the stadium in Bangalore.
The blast injured at least 14 people. A second bomb exploded close to the Chinnaswamy Stadium and two further unexploded devices were found on Sunday.
The PCA still wants more details about the circumstances that led to Saturday's match being played after one of the non-Indian players involved claimed the decision was left to the players.
“The immediate worry for us, and I have heard this direct from one of the players, is that after the initial explosion and a sweep of the stadium, the decision that the game should go ahead was taken by the players," said Ian Smith, the PCA's legal adviser.
"From what I have been told, the Indian guys said very quickly that they felt unfazed. But the foreign guys then felt under pressure to agree with their colleagues. The idea that you can determine whether conditions are safe by a referendum of the players is outrageous,” he added.
Smith has been unable to speak to any of the six English players – Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Owais Shah, Michael Lumb, Pietersen and Ravi Bopara – who are involved in the IPL.
But he has had email communication with them and advised them to await a full report from IPL security experts Nicholls Steyn Associates and Reg Dickason, security adviser to the Federation of International Cricketers'' Associations.
IPL commissioner Lalit Modi said the decision to relocate the semi-finals was taken reluctantly.
