No more Subcontinent visits for Martin Crowe

[suraj]

The time has come for the cricketing world to accept that touring Pakistan is an absolute no go zone ever again. While sad for their talented top cricketers, Pakistan is completely unsafe and contemplation of playing there again has got to stop. But they are not alone. Quite frankly, it was a matter of time before a sportsman got caught up in a terrorist attack. But to hear that a cricket team was the target ranks alongside the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre as one of the most despicable acts of terrorism in sport. As the dreadful news has all been played out it's pertinent to ask a couple of questions. Firstly, if there were 14 gunmen in a highly-organised terror attack, carrying sacks of hand grenades and rockets along with plenty of ammunition, doesn't it seem strange that, with little resistance, only two civilians and six policemen and no players or match officials were killed? Is it possible these skilled terrorists deliberately attacked a cricket team for global impact but deliberately didn't kill any of that team or officials because they thought that would be wrong? Weren't the terrorists seen wandering away in a relaxed manner and therefore saw the mission as a success? The point is these people appear to know what they are doing. Also and alarmingly was the fact the Pakistan bus left a good five minutes later than the Sri Lankans or match officials. That they never arrived at the scene was slightly suspicious. Was there a tip-off? Bottom line is that never again will anyone trust anyone or anything in that environment. There is no longer a thing called a "guarantee". That's now hogwash. For years there have been instances of terrorism within metres of cricket teams but not targeted at cricket teams. In 1987, on the last day of the first test in Colombo, we changed our bus route home to drop Phil Horne off at the doctor only to hear 150 civilians were killed in a bomb blast on the very route we normally took. Twenty-fours later we left Sri Lanka and didn't return until 1992. Within 24 hours I witnessed a naval commander's BMW blown sky-high killing the commander and his four aides, along with the 15-year-old suicide bomber. The boy, with bomb strapped to his waist, drove up alongside the BMW and drove his bicycle under the car. The explosion from the blast was horrific. As I lay on my bed looking out my hotel window I could not believe what was unfolding. The carnage of dead bodies, of human entrails scattered all around the front gate of our hotel, will live with me forever. Next was the bomb blast in Karachi in 2002. My brother Jeff was then manager of the Black Caps when their hotel was hit after another bus carrying French tourists was blown to bits. Windows of the players' rooms caved in and many were lucky to avoid injury. But the shock was evident, as seen when Stephen Fleming broke down in the ensuing press conference revealing the horrible emotion of being sick with the possibility that one of his team-mates had perished in the attack. Then, in May last year, just 24 hours before I flew with the IPL Royal Challengers to Jaipur for a nothing Twenty20 match, eight bombs went off three-minutes apart killing over 100 civilians and tourists as it ripped through the crowded Pink Palace. We were forced to play the match a day later in front of an empty stadium and 3000 soldiers. It was a joke to be told to play and an affront to the families of those killed. That's why you can't just isolate Pakistan. Lives have been taken on a regular basis from terror attacks in India over the last year in major cities like Mumbai in November the worst Bangalore in July and Delhi in September. These were significant and show it's happening almost monthly. Having toured all around India with the IPL, the worst and scariest aspect is that when you leave your hotel you have no further control on anything. Once you start travelling by road you are at the mercy of every little tuk tuk, every intersection and every traffic jam. I used to hate getting on the bus. It would cast my mind back to a bus trip I took in 1998 in Colombo when commentating. As we went through a roundabout a series of smoke bombs went off and we had to stop. Man, I nearly died. I felt like getting out and backing myself to run instead. That will be the case each and every day throughout the IPL. Even staying at a hotel isn't safe any more, as we all witnessed on the news late last year with the Mumbai bombings. I stayed at that hotel in April last year during the IPL. Never again. Sri Lanka, India and Pakistan are all great cricket nations with great cricketers. And maybe the terrorists will spare all cricketers and officials from being murdered as they appeared to last week considering all the ammunition and opportunity they had. Maybe, though, someone, even the most famous of all, Sachin Tendulkar, might get severely hurt or disabled from a flying piece of shrapnel or glass. Yes, it could happen in London, or Paris, or Madrid, as it did in the most alarming manner of all in New York. But the reality is that the odds and the feeling of those odds shortening are against you in the sub-continent. With this latest attack, brother Jeff, as a fulltime match referee, could easily have been sitting where Chris Broad sat, as Jeff normally does all the Pakistan tours. I will ask my brother not to go there any more just as I will never go there again. Does this spell the end for world cricket as we know it? In my mind, yes. But I am just a "has-been" and it's an easy answer for me. But for all those who have wonderful careers ahead of them it must make them now lie awake at night. In principle, no one wants to give in to these cowardly terrorists. But ultimately it comes down to the choices we have to make. For some it's a no-brainer, for others it's harder. Either way, the decision is literally a life-or-death one. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/opinion/2169163/I-ll-never-return-to-Pakistan

[King]

The Pakistan fiasco was always bound to affect India. In the eye of outsiders (particularly for the likes of Martin Crowe) Sub-Continent is one. Doesn't matter what people living in India reckon. India is as vulnerable as Pakistan and to be honest I have to say India has its share of terror in the recent past. The Mumbai shootings and taking over the star hotels left a bad taste. There have been bombs going off in Jaipur, Bangalore, Mumbai and few other cities. Every week I read at least one such terror attack in India. Doesn't matter who does it but it does happen. You can point fingers at Pakistan, Bangladesh and the rest but the fact remains India is vulnerable. We talk about bombings in UK, the twin tower and the rest but since then how many more such instances have repeated? Not may or not a single one after that. Contrast that to India or Sri Lanka or Pakistan. There's news of one bombing a day in Pakistan, once a week in Sri Lanka and once a month in India (I'm not accurate on the numbers but am speaking here hypothetically). If the players from rest of the world refuse to visit or participate in IPL it’s their loss of course. India can sustain running the IPL with its own set of players. The IPL makes money appeasing Indian public and not public from outside India. Obviously IPL will go on despite any issues. The players from other countries will lose out on lucrative contracts of course. Country like India can sustain its interest in cricket but the likes of Pakistan and Sri Lanka will dwindle away if the security concerns stop them from hosting cricket. The only possible sizable revenue their cricket boards can earn is from hosting cricket but when that is taken away from them they will struggle financially. Cricket world cannot certainly sustain loss of cricketing nations. I hope Sri Lanka is able to over come LTTE and get their share of opportunities to host series’, World cup games and even IPL. I cannot see why IPL cannot be hosted in Sri Lanka that is only if the LTTE is taken care of.

[Mamu]

Thanks to the damn Pakis we are getting screwed. edit: removed Morons.

[EnterTheVoid]

I hate to say it but we are getting dragged down with those jihadists. Not just India but the entire sub continent is suffering because of this hell hole of extremism. Our aim of pressurizing Pakistan to dismantle terror camps in futile as their intelligence service has deep rooted sympathies for the Taliban and Al Qaeda. What is in our control, however, is making our country secure by means of smarter intelligence gathering, greater co - ordination and like. @Mamu: The Indian team is achieving wins at amazing consistency. That is something one should be proud of. What has Pakistan got to celebrate? In cricketing terms at least, they are isolated, alone and have no hope of home tours for the next decade. Sure, India may lose matches, but hey, at least we're playing cricket.

[Mamu]

Point taken. We shall maintain our dignity and not called any names. But jokers from thst site sure do make up for a fun filled day. It is quite amazing people with that kind of a mindset do exist in this world. And some of those guys are from UK. No wonder UK is also caught in a terror web. sree_india, their isolation was predicted by me 8 years ago on an Indian Express forum -- which doesnt exist now. It was just somethign that was bound to happen. Yeah we should thank our lucky stars and they are doomed. BTW No matter how you look at it, I vehemently opposed the India tour to Pak in 2004 and 2006 for the very same reason -- Terrorism. Yes this depite the fact that we won there in 2004 and won the ODIs there in 2006 -- I still dont think we should have toured. I am so glad they dropped out this time, otherwise it could have been a mayhem!

[EnterTheVoid]

^^ On the subject of Indian security, have a read at Vikram Sood's blog, a former RAW agent. http://soodvikram.blogspot.com/ Our country, just like every other country in the world, either directly or indirectly is in the cross hairs of these terrorists, who were and are still supported by the ISI as they were deemed to have strategic importance. That is why we have intelligence agencies, a well armed / trained army, navy and air force. I wish that war monger would nick off and stop peddling this India - Pakistan love / piece / friendship nonsense. We aren't gullible enough to fall for it. This security fear is nothing new for us. We've been protecting our country for 60 + years and we shall do so in the future.

[Macj]

On another note personally i used to watch cricket through illegal paid feeds run by a Pakistani. Ever since 11/26 ive stopped using the guy and also most of the Indians on that list have stopped. Never again am I giving ANY business to a national from that country.

[Kohum]

On another note personally i used to watch cricket through illegal paid feeds run by a Pakistani. Ever since 11/26 ive stopped using the guy and also most of the Indians on that list have stopped. Never again am I giving ANY business to a national from that country.

:two_thumbs_up::two_thumbs_up: We as Indians have to stop giving business to any of those *****tanis

[DomainK]

The rotten stink reaches India. It will affect us in a big way. Bloody idiots wont grow and wont let anyone around grow.

[CommanderTaco]

WTF is Crowe talking about here? Crowe to MSD: Tame Zaheer Martin Crowe warned Indian skipper MS Dhoni that he needs to control left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan on the field. The former New Zealand captain took strong exception to Zaheer's tantrums on the field and said, "Zaheer Khan has quite a lot to say on the field. Dhoni needs to be very careful with players like Zaheer who is getting too vocal and animated, otherwise it will start compromising with his own leadership." The New Zealander drew a parallel with Rahul Dravid, who was leading the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League and said the former India captain often had to compromise on the field due to Zaheer's antics. "Zaheer became very dominating over Rahul last year through the IPL. It is not a crisis point, but a gentle reminder is needed that Zaheer is there to bowl and Dhoni to captain," said Crowe, who was the chief cricket officer of the Bangalore outfit. "It is only with regards to general gameplan and field placements at any given moment that I am raising this point," Crowe wrote in his column for a website. ***.espnstar.com/cricket/international-cricket/news/detail/item214400/Crowe-to-MSD:-Tame-Zaheer/ anyway, who cares about what this kaala crow

[fineleg]

WTF is Crowe talking about here? Crowe to MSD: Tame Zaheer Martin Crowe warned Indian skipper MS Dhoni that he needs to control left-arm seamer Zaheer Khan on the field. The former New Zealand captain took strong exception to Zaheer's tantrums on the field and said, "Zaheer Khan has quite a lot to say on the field. Dhoni needs to be very careful with players like Zaheer who is getting too vocal and animated, otherwise it will start compromising with his own leadership." The New Zealander drew a parallel with Rahul Dravid, who was leading the Bangalore Royal Challengers in the inaugural edition of the Indian Premier League and said the former India captain often had to compromise on the field due to Zaheer's antics. "Zaheer became very dominating over Rahul last year through the IPL. It is not a crisis point, but a gentle reminder is needed that Zaheer is there to bowl and Dhoni to captain," said Crowe, who was the chief cricket officer of the Bangalore outfit. "It is only with regards to general gameplan and field placements at any given moment that I am raising this point," Crowe wrote in his column for a website. ***.espnstar.com/cricket/international-cricket/news/detail/item214400/Crowe-to-MSD:-Tame-Zaheer/ anyway, who cares about what this kaala crow

crowe can shut up

[jf1gp_1]

i keep reading comments like 'pakis are in a state of denial and how they should wake up and see reality' doesnt the same apply to us. In the last 12 month every single major Indian city has seen blasts; isnt it time we also woke up and accepted the fact the to an outsider Indian doesnt come across as a safe city. In delhi/blore/jaipur (dont know how it is in mumbai) traffic is bad on majority of roads anyone with proper resources/motive and planning can do anything to a bus used by cricketer. Isnt it time we woke up ??