by Veena Gabriel
It is the manner in which England and Australia’s cricket teams are behaving, refusing to play in India after Mumbai Blasts that has led Pakistani Board chief Ejaz Butt to voice his fears that cricket world may see divided, parallel cricket worlds.
As it is, India has been named as one the most dangerous country to visit. There are 19 more countries in the list issued by the USA Agencies, Pakistan being another one after the Merriot Hotel incident.
England had left India abandoning their tour without playing last two ODI’s and they are hesitant to come back for the two tests the venues of one have been shifted from Mumbai to Chennai.
As per Butt,staying away from the Sub Continent was no answer..It would be tit for tat - if you don’t come to our country, we won’t come to yours. This will lead to a dangerous situation of the game being played with two sets of rules.The ultimate may be England would only play with Australia. The teams had cancelled their tour of Pakistan recently and in the past West Indies played in Abu Dhabi three ODI’s against Pakistan.
The Pakistan cricket board Chairman is also worried that India’s scheduled our of Pakistan in January next may not materialize.
The two sets of rules with four countries playing with each other and another four countries with each other will lead to two sets of rules which will be disastrous for the World cricket.
The former Pakistani Captain Inzamam is also worried that after Mumbai terror strikes the cricket administrators will have to be on their toes all the time to ensure safety and security of the players and officials.
As per him such incidents are a big set back for the sport and can harm it in long run.
He is right but there is nothing one can do but wait and watch because too much is at stake which cannot be abandoned midway.
