Mumbai and cricket

Its hard to know what exactly to write about in the wake of the Mumbai bombings. This is a cricket blog, so I'm not going to get into geopolitical analysis here. I'm also not keen to start speculating about India's trip to Pakistan next year (for purely cricketing reasons, I'd have preferred a delay). As for England, I thought their return was understandable, and I wouldn't have been too surprised or upset had the tests been canceled. Given the directed nature of the Mumbai attacks, they had good reason to feel nervous. And to continue to do so if they return. Plenty of Indians don't feel safe in Mumbai after all. Of course, there will be high-grade security provided, but that's hardly going to assuage fears of random violence. I was looking forward to watching the second test in the comfortable environs of my brother's home in Delhi, and will be happy if its on, but won't be shattered if its not. Cricket seems like pretty minor business when the disaster of last week is still hanging over our heads. As for what this means for future international cricket in India, one can only speculate. Any more of these directed attacks, and India could have the same problem on its hands that Pakistan does. It doesn't take too long for those sorts of associations to be made. There's plenty of work to be done on the ground by lots of folks. The civil administration and the national security apparatus will need to start by reassuring Indians first that they can do more to protect their lives.

If the tests against England were to happen, I do hope big crowds turn out. All the fancy words about cricket being a healing force will sound hollow if the games are played in empty grounds filled mainly with machine-gun toting commandos and paramilitary types. Chennai should be able to turn out some serious numbers, and hopefully the PCA will have learned not to repeat its asinine policies (run buses to Mohali if you have to, and let people buy tickets for a day at a time for starters);