A secure but joyless series
England could decide to tour India for the Tests but Mike Atherton feels the series, under the current circumstances, will be a joyless one
Nishi Narayanan
25-Feb-2013
England could decide to tour India for the Tests but Mike Atherton feels the series, under the current circumstances, will be a joyless one. He writes in the Times:
Lord’s has yet to be given any indication that its requirements are deemed disproportionate, but while its desire to do everything possible to ensure the safety of its players is understandable, the fact that neither cricket nor cricketers have been targeted on the sub- continent gives rise to the suspicion that the Mumbai atrocities have resulted in a high degree of paranoia among England players and officials.
In the same paper Richard Hobson talks to a former counter-terrorism expert who believes England should not return to India because though a targeted attack on the players is unlikely, they could find themselves caught up in a more general attack.
“Although what happened in Bombay was tragic, these acts of terrorism are not isolated,” the expert said. “Over the past two or three years it has been a regular feature of life in India. People are shocked by the events of last week, but I am not. It is a volatile, uncertain country and if anybody thinks that one part is safer than any other, they are living in a dreamworld.”
Nasser Hussain believes part of being an international cricketer these days is the realisation that you could be a terrorist target. He writes in the Daily Mail that England should tour India because the country is so important to cricket and to the Indian people that the players owe it to them to go back and play, as long as every possible precaution has been taken.
When we toured India in 2001 under my captaincy just after the attacks on New York I had no problem accepting the decisions of Robert Croft and Andrew Caddick not to tour. I told them it would not be held against them and it should not be held against Andrew Flintoff, Steve Harmison or any other England players if they decide they are not prepared to go. On that occasion, Mark Ramprakash stood up at a team meeting and said we should go because we were in just as much danger in London as in India. I agreed. I felt no extra pressure as captain because I was desperate to tour India, partly as my dad was Indian.
Iafrica.com's Rob Peters looks back at occasions in the past when sports and politics colllided.
Nishi Narayanan is a staff writer at ESPNcricinfo