Jan 18, 1999
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CRICKET Spoilsports The Government is determined to hold the Indo-Pak series despite the Shiv Sena's early warning. By Javed M Ansari
There was more. Sena chief Bal Thackeray, ailing and advised by doctors not to speak, gathered enough strength to tell India Today through his secretary: "Cricket nahi hoga (there will be no cricket)." It mattered little to him that millions in India and Pakistan were excitedly waiting for the resumption of Test matches between the two sides after 12 years. Emboldened, the Sena's handful of stormtroopers in Delhi postured and preened. "It doesn't matter to us what others feel. If Balasaheb does not want the tour to take place we won't allow it," warned the Sena's Delhi unit President Jaya Bhagwan Goel. "We are prepared to go to any extent to prevent the series from taking place." Bluster? Perhaps. But given the Sena's notorious record of sabotage, the late-night excavation at the Kotla sent the Central Government led by its ally the BJP into a tizzy -- and spurred it into action. Upset at the Sena's attempt to scuttle the tour barely two days after he had instructed the Union Home Ministry to give it the go ahead, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee was forced to intervene again. A fortnight ago the prime minister had emphasised that the matches would be played in India and Thackeray appeared to be backing off. Vajpayee's warning to Home Ministry boffins was clear: ensure an incident-free tour or I will hold you responsible. The message appeared to have gone home. Through Thursday the mandarins in North Block, office of the Home Ministry, sat through a marathon day-long meeting attended by the security apparatus' who's who: everyone from the home secretary to the Delhi Police commissioner to the director of the Intelligence Bureau. The cricket board too was quick to react. "At this point in time the tour is on," board President Raj Singh Dungarpur told India Today after postponing his departure to Christchurch, New Zealand, for an ICC meeting. He was on the line to his Pakistani counterpart Khalid Mehmood assuring him of security and urging restraint. But behind the brave facade the men who run the board were a worried lot. With cricket tours seen now more in terms of commercial value, a Pakistani tour of India, coming as it did after a long gap, was bound to fill the board's coffers. Very simply, nothing turns on the subcontinent as much as an India-Pakistan cricket encounter. For the board the tour is seen as the kick-off to what promises to be a season of bonanzas. Aware of the emotive undertones that such matches are held under -- and mindful of the Sena's threat -- the board had taken great care in finalising the venues in consultation with the Home Ministry. Mumbai -- the cricket capital of the country and home to the Sena -- and Maharashtra were kept strictly off limits. So was communally sensitive Gujarat, just recovering from attacks on minorities. Even Kanpur, which was to have hosted the second Test, eventually lost out to Chennai as the Government and the board skirted clear of potential trouble spots. The three-week tour is slated to commence with a two-day match against India A at Gwalior, followed by the first Test in Delhi from January 28 and the second Test in Chennai from February 4. These are to be followed by the Asia Test series and the one-day triangular series among India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It wasn't just the board and the Government which were upset by the Sena's latest attempt at high-handedness. Former Test cricketers and BJP members Kirti Azad and Chetan Chauhan were vehement in their condemnation. "This is sickening," said Azad. "Let's keep politics out of cricket. The series must go ahead." His senior colleague and MP Chauhan was equally forthcoming: "By damaging the pitch they are not doing themselves any good." Former India skipper and the world's highest Test wicket-taker Kapil Dev appealed for sanity. "Let's not settle political scores through cricket. Sports binds people so don't use it to divide people," he said. The fervent appeals for calm and nervous reactions highlighted the destructive capacity of the Sena, though no more than five Sena workers did the damage at the Kotla. The board immediately put the stadiums in Delhi and Chennai under a 24-hour vigil, though many questioned why this was not done in the first place. In Delhi the organisers led by Delhi District Cricket Association Secretary Sunil Dev began working round the clock to get the ground and the playing square ready in time for the match. "There is absolutely no question of putting off the match," he declared. "We will not be cowed down by miscreants." Delhi Police Commissioner V.N. Singh said he was equally determined: "The tour must go on. Otherwise it will send out a wrong message that a handful of miscreants can sabotage cricket matches." In Chennai the Tamil Nadu Cricket Association mounted a security operation of its own by hiring private securitymen to guard the square and the stadium along with police guards provided by the state Government. The Pakistani team will be placed under blanket security cover from the minute it steps on Indian soil. The Pakistan Cricket Board is playing by the ear. Though the Pakistani team played the 1996 World Cup and a tri-series in 1997 in India, this is to be the first Test series between the two sides in 12 years. Forced to abort two of its previous tours by the Sena it is understandably perturbed by the Sena's threat "to go to any extent" to thwart the tour . "The safety of our players is a source of serious concern to us," says Pakistan High Commissioner Ashraf Jahangir Kazi. Eventually the love and passion of cricket may conquer everything the Sena has to throw at the subcontinental version of the Ashes. "People in India are very loving and they want to see Pakistani players in action," says Pakistani captain Wasim Akram. That might be the greatest weapon against the Sena. -- with Sheela Raval in Mumbai |
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The Shiv Sena would be
eminently qualified to file the first entry under the new Patents Act: The Art of
Destroying Cricket Tours. Eight years after it first succeeded in forcing the Pakistan
team led by Imran Khan to abort its India tour by digging up the pitch at the Wankhede
Stadium in Mumbai, the Sena performed an encore. On the cold rainy night of January 6, a
handful of Shiv Sainiks under the glare of television cameras brazenly dug up the pitch at
Delhi's Ferozeshah Kotla ground. 
