Tour must go on

By the time I had switched on the TV yesterday, the result of the India-England match was irrelevant. The terror attacks in Mumbai naturally overshadowed mere cricket. It is natural and understandable that England should want to call off the tour and go home. News reports suggest that the rest of the matches have been postponed. A postponement can last more than a year or can be used as a diplomatic term for abandonment.

I feel that the tour must continue fairly promptly, even if England take a break to let things calm down and return after Christmas. England owe it to India and their fans to demonstrate that life must go on after such senseless carnage. The cliche about not letting the terrorists win can sound trite, but it is a valid one. Even though reports suggested that the terrorists were seeking British and Americans, the bulk of those who died or were wounded were Indians. England should stay and compete as a mark of respect to them.

Naturally, the protection of the England players is paramount to the ECB. I am sure that everything will be done to ensure their safety. It might be wise to move the second Test from Bombay. But our shared humanity and the demonstration of the continuation of normal life in the face of those who want to take away our freedom is also important. If we wanted to ensure that everyone was 100 per cent safe from terrorist attacks all the time, no one would travel on trains or enter restaurants in urban areas. The cancellation of the tour wouldn’t remove the threat, but nor, I feel, would its continuation enhance the threat.

There is no use in conducting the rest of the ODI series especially after these threats, and a 5-0 whitewash. But the Test Series has to go on in order to show the people that cricket can help in restoration of peace.

Life has to go on, otherwise we become paralysed by fear. We live in a dangerous world but generally the security services protect us. Playing a Test match is no more dangerous than attending the market. The best tribute to those who died in the latest shocking attacks would be to play on in their memory.

The IPL Impact

T20 has surely revolutionized One-Day cricket. This can be seen in the ongoing Asia Cup series. Targets which were considered very safe a few years back are being chased with such an great ease. The psychological advantage which used to be there after a team scores 300+ runs in ODIs is no more. Teams now have that confidence in the way they approach the game whatever the target is. Incidentally, India chasing Sri Lanka in yesterday’s game was the 300th time a team had scored 300+ runs in One-Day Internationals.

Post- IPL, batsmen seem to have become all the more powerful. Most of the guys have an impressive strike rate. But what has happened to the bowlers? Is the game becoming more and more batsmen oriented. The magic of the ball in the hands of great bowlers is slowly fading with the batsmen becoming more confident to attack the ball. They are now ready to play any kind of delivery, even the ones which were considered too dangerous in the recent past.

IPL has really been an great advantage for India. Considered as a poor third world country a few years back is now considered as the country which is using its money muscle to create an impact world over. IPL has brought back the nation’s pride by being a massively rich tournament which all cricketing nations are looking forward to. Hats off to the BCCI for such a wonderful tournament. And a special thanks to Subhash Chandra(Zee TV) for taking the first step in starting it all.