Indians are obsessed with Cricket, but after the terrorist attacks at Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Bangalore, and Jaipur, they are obsessed with terror. The recent attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore can be interpreted as a clash between two of the greatest passions of the subcontinent – Cricket and Religion. Will this attack act as the dead end for the improving Indo-Pak relationship, which became better after a hiatus of 18 years in 1978???
Now the main question is what will happen to Pakistan cricket??? Already countries like England, New Zealand and Australia have refused to play in Pakistan. Now, after this incident which exposed the abysmal security situation in Pakistan, no country will be willing to send their precious gems there, only to get shot or injured and increase the ever growing pie of their problems.
The thing is, it will not only affect cricket in Pakistan, rather it will affect the entire subcontinent as a whole. The question: “How safe is India then???” remains unanswered. Hence, the shrapnel wounded Sri Lankan players would give a sound reason to tell everyone that IPL and World Cup and other major tours to the subcontinent are in jeopardy. The officials of IPL almost confirmed that the “clash of titans” will take place definitely but at a later time. The reason for this procrastination of the event is two fold: a need to beef up security; and Elections, which are scheduled at the same time as IPL.
This will be a setback to the cricket fans back home. This may bring a sort of exile to the game being played here. The situation may become more or less same as it was in South Africa which faced isolation from world cricket, but the passion towards the game kept Cricket alive there and they came back strongly.
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