Cricket in the Sub-Continent will never remain the same

Security code cracked (courtesy AFP)


March the 3rd will be regarded as the darkest day in international as well as Pakistan cricket. The attack on the Srilankan players meant that there would not be cricket in Pakistan any time soon. Pakistan cricket has suffered a lot of setbacks in the recent times. First it was the Bob Woolmer murder incident ,then the ouster from the world cup in the group stages and now this. The Australia, England and South Africa have repeatedly expressed their fear in touring Pakistan , India is a recent inclusion. Now it wont be a surprise if rest of the world follows suite. Pakistan's only crowning moment in recent times was reaching the T20 world cup final, which they lost by a silly shot. Apart from that it has only been sorrow all the way.

The Lankan players were arriving at the gaddaffi stadium,a group of terrorists fired at them to hold them as hostages. Six players namely Ajantha Mendis, Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara,Thilan Samaraveera, Tharanga Parnavitana and the assistant coaching staff Paul Fabrace were injured in the incident. Local Umpire Ahsan Raza was critically injured.Many has attributed this attack was due to security lapse. Muralitharan went on to say that the security given to them was not the level promised and also said that there must have been some Judas who must have leaked the route they traveled This happened just months after the Mumbai attack. The incident has also sent jitters down the throats of the foreign players to take part in the IPL. Which is also unlikely to happen due to the elections in the country. The fear in the mind of the western people can be justified because they are obvious targets.

Is touring the sub continent a risk worth it ? is the billion dollar question, this might lead to a split in the cricketing world. Which eventually will end cricket tours to sub-continent. What can one do is just hope this phase passes out and things will back to normal. To earn the trust of the others will be an uphill task which needs to be taken care of. For this to happen security arrangements should be good and some trust shown on the sub-continent by the western countries. Bombings happened in london did the ashes series stop? they went on with it and it turned out to be one cracker of a series. The same trust needs to be shown if the security arrangements are up to the mark. At the end of the day a cricket match in a stadium in the sub-continent would never be the same, gone will those days of meeting of players and getting their autographs. We only will be left with bunch of security guards standing between us and our dream to meet the players