CricDigs Blogs

England has called off its cricket tour of India — in all probability. This has happened in the wake of the terror strikes in Mumbai that started on Wednesday. Reportedly, their management has informed BCCI about the apprehension of their players have in carrying on with the remaining two matches and the Test series. The English team had reservations about playing in Guwahati from the start of their journey and this had already jeopardized the scheduled 6th ODI of the series. Now, the remainder of the one-day series and the forthcoming Test matches both stand cancelled. BCCI has itself said that the Twenty20 Champions League would have to be moved out of Mumbai. There are already efforts being made to make the Englishmen come back for the Test matches at least — the chances of which are very slim.

Cricket Australia too is contemplating sending its cricketers to India for the Champions League. The blasts along with the hostage crisis that has caught the attention of the nation has spooked off nearly every cricketer who was planning to visit India in the near future. Nearly the whole world has been shaken with the reported death of more than 100 people and it is no surprise that the foreign players just don’t want to stay on. Cricket Australia would most probably not send over its national league teams and the chances of the cancellation of the Champions Trophy too cannot be ruled out.

It is a shame that in a nation so devoted to its cricket, the game has been endangered and innocent people are being slaughtered in the name of some supposed ‘Bigger’ cause. The reputation of India as one of the most favoured cricketing hosts and the centre of the cricketing world stands compromised as it witnesses bombs being exploded in the nation’s commercial capital, Mumbai. Well, to be honest, right now the mind doesn’t contemplate too much about how the game would suffer. There is a much bigger problem at hand — the words ‘national security’ are fast losing their meaning.