Dec 03 2008
Indian Cricket - After Mumbai Attacks
India faced it worst terrorist attack on 26/11/2008, this time the target was India’s financial capital Mumbai. This attack is termed to be India’s 9/11 which was aimed at the upper class people of Mumbai and the foreign tourists who were staying at the luxury hotels (Taj and Oberoi – Trident) in the coastal Mumbai near the Gateway of India. This attack took place during the One Day International (ODI) Series which was played between India and England. The Visitors had lost the series already and they were lagging the series by 5 – 0 in a 7-Match series and they were heading towards the last 2 matches. There came the shocking news of the Terror attacks on the Mumbai Taj and Oberoi - Trident hotels on 26/11/2008. Immediately after hearing the news, The English Cricket Board announced the termination of the ongoing series and ordered the team to return by the next available flight.
This attack was very close to their heart and was disgusting because, they were spending time in the same restaurants in the luxury Taj hotel which were attacked by the dreaded terrorists. This attack has prompted the ECB to think about sending their team to the 2-match Test Series which was about to take place after the ODI’s. But the Board of Cricket Council of India (BCCI) was confident of staging the 2-Test series between India and England. The ECB has now decided to send their team to participate in the 2-match Test Series after changing the venues from Mumbai and Ahmedabad to Mohali and Chennai. They also sent their Security Inspectors to inspect the security conditions at the venues and the team hotels, now they have felt secure and have decided to send the whole cricket team to India.
The Decision to send the team to India was sharply criticized by former English player Geoffrey Boycott and he sought the intervention from ICC to stop the team from leaving to India. But most of the former players have backed the decision and they have quoted that terrorism should not be allowed to overcome the cricketing interests.
These Attacks have caused a severe blow to the proposed Champions League after the grand success of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The Champions League was scheduled to be played from December 3 to December 10 in Chennai, Bangalore and Mumbai, Since Mumbai was one of the venues all the Participating teams which were about to start from Australia, South Africa, England and Pakistan to India were stopped by their respective country boards, So the Champions League has been postponed till next year. But will the Impression which the Mumbai Attacks have made on minds the foreign players ever change? That has to be watched.
But As far as I am concerned we should not let terrorism to take the center stage over cricket and not encourage terrorist by suspending the cricketing ties between nations. Because today it’s India and tomorrow it may be some others.
