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England batsman Ravi Bopara, who plays for the Kings XI Punjab, has delayed his departure to India for the IPL, which begins on March 12, due to security concerns. However Lalit Modi, the league's commissioner, said he had spoken to Bopara and the batsman had told him he was "looking forward to coming to India".

Bopara was concerned about the contents of security advisor Reg Dickason's report, which had named Al Qaeda group Brigade 313 as a possible threat to the IPL. "Cricket is my living and in many ways my life. But it is not worth dying for," Bopara told the Mail on Sunday. "This is a very tricky call. I have been in touch with the franchise and they are pretty positive that things will be okay. But Reg Dickason's report says something different.

"At the moment I'm nowhere with this decision. I've had some contact with other players. No one has said they are definitely not going, but no one has said they definitely are either. I have pushed back my flight so I can give myself a bit more time to see what happens and whether the security measures are implemented. The franchise will want an answer in the next few days, but I will not come to a hasty decision just because I have to. I need to weigh everything up and if I could buy myself even more time, I would."

Modi, however, responded on his Twitter account by saying reports about Bopara not coming "are completely false". Bopara, who was bought for $450,000 at the 2009 auction, is one of eight England cricketers involved in IPL 2010. Kevin Pietersen, Paul Collingwood, Eoin Morgan, Owais Shah, Dimitri Mascarenhas, Graham Napier and Michael Lumb are the others.

Meanwhile, the Australian players were told at a security briefing in Christchurch on Sunday that the terrorist threat from the 313 Brigade was not credible. However, Tim May, the chief executive of the Federation of International Cricketers' Associations, has said there could still be "mass withdrawals" unless players receive a commitment that the IPL's security plans will be implemented at all venues.

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