Although it feels good that the England team is flying back to India as a whole unit to play the test series rather than abandon it due to the security situation, one cannot help but wonder just what it is that has made them suddenly so courageous.
Looking back just a few months and the CT which was abandoned in Pakistan due to western teams not being prepared to put their “lives at risk” to play cricket and one gets a sour taste of unjust behavior in their mouth.
For after all India today is in a much more threatened security situation then Pakistan was when the CT was canceled here, even though KP is talking big about how they should stand shoulder to shoulder with the Indian people we all know those shoulders will be separated by a couple of crack commando units at least.
The fact of the matter is that it is the BCCI rather than the Indian people who have “convinced” KP & co to play out the test series with the full squad even though Flintoff and Harmison have expressed serious reservations about going back. Not to mention the fact that till now England have not been part of the cash rich “IPL” and we could see some major signing for it from the England team right after this test series.
That is how the ball rolls in international cricket these days and the lure of the greenback can smooth over anything from terrorist fears to a Delhi belly. Still though some things remain unchanged as poor Asad Rauf will not be part of this series even though he is a top umpire for the crime of carrying a “green pakistani passport”. After all security is paramount, hence the pakis must be kept away eh?
As the England players arrive to a hero’s welcome we would do well to not forget who the real hero’s of this tragedy in Mumbai are, namely the firefighters,commandos, ordinary junta and the staff of the hotels. Let us not forget the dignity upheld by Hemant Karkares widow who “refused” to accept government help! Cricket is just a sideshow now, the real game has already been played out on the streets of Mumbai.
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