'Missing' Indian cricketers found

By CNN's Ian McMinn

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Immigration officials are interviewing five young Indian cricketers who disappeared before reporting to the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide about a month ago.

"They have contacted the department where officials are now in the process of considering a request to extend their visas," a spokesman for Immigration Minister, Phillip Ruddock, told CNN.

Until Friday, the five young Indian men had been missing after failing to show up in Adelaide on March 25 for the start of a two-week cricket clinic.

Their visas are due to expire on April 23.

The group was to be met by former Australian test cricketer and now academy coach, Wayne Philips, at Adelaide airport.

When they were not on the Singapore Airlines flight Philips immediately reported the incident to the immigration authorities.

What made it apparently worse was that each of the men were carrying about $1500 in travelers checks but only one of them spoke English.

Smelt a rat

Meanwhile back in Mangalore the convener of the Karavali Cricket Club, P.V.Mohan, is less than impressed by the whole affair.

"I smelt a rat when there was no response from their parents about their whereabouts," Mohan said.

Mohan believes the young men signed up with the Indian cricket club so it would help them receive advanced training in Adelaide.

"They cooked up the whole story to enter Australia in the guise of cricketers, probably to find employment," he said.

Australian officials refuse to comment on Mohan's allegations but confirm the young men are not in Adelaide.

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