The reactions to England’s return have ranged from the cynical to the upbeat. On the sceptical side of the ledger are such reasons as money, bargaining chips at the IPL, ensuring that the Champions League is not affected, while on the positive side are support for a country which has suffered, a way to tell the terrorists off and belief that whatever happens, the show must go on.

Pessimists have been quick to point out that a cancellation might have split the cricket world along racial lines, a line of argument one has been hearing for sometime now, whether the sticking point is yet another Indian being hauled up for misbehaviour or an occasional protest about the way India is running world cricket.

Perhaps there is no single reason for England’s return. Even those who honestly believe they are going ahead with the series in order to cock a snook at terrorists cannot be unaware of the business advantages of such a stand. And those who hope this will mean the IPL will look kindly upon a short-term individual contract would be just as pleased to be lauded for seeing the larger picture.

Yet, whatever the reason or combination of reasons, India have reason to be grateful to the players for coming back. It is not yet official - that will happen when Reg Dickason gives the all-clear - but when they do, sacrificing quality time with the family at home for the uncertainty in a foreign country, the Indian board must acknowledge the enormity of the decision.

It will be the first step towards showing the world that neither the Commonwealth Games nor the World Cup in 2011 needs to be in danger of being taken away from India. Perhaps mixed with the relief will be somewhat warmer feelings towards a neighbour whose cricket has suffered because no one wants to go there.

If India understand the frustration of being an outcast and the joy that comes with acceptance, then they have a responsibility to tour Pakistan next month. Things might change between now and then, but in principle at least India must accept that what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander.

I do not think England should have returned to India because a) though I am a die-hard cricket fan, I am just not in the frame of mind to enjoy a game of cricket. b) I believe the English establishment and the players have done it only because it'l give them some bargaining power vis-a-vis the IPL. Also, I do not think India should tour Pakistan because I seem to have noted many comments from Pakistanis over the past week that they, the Pakistanis would not welcome India. So, that being the case, I do not think India should bother. The PCB should continue to hold matches in the Gulf countries !!

I really appreciate Mr Menon's advice that India should tour Pakistan and help it come out of its cricket isolation. On both sides of the India-Pakistan divide we need more people like him who can think objectively even when faced with uncertainty and tragedy in their respective countries. Thank you Mr Menon. It is time for the people of both countries to promote peace between themselves and not wait the politicians to do it for them.

India does not have any obligation to tour pakistan if it is felt that the safety of the players is at stake especially because the Mumbai attacks originated in Pakistan. It is unlikely any Indian Cricketer would be keen to tour Pakistan even if Indian Govt. lifts the ban. The England tour of India is slightly different because the security is in the hands of the Indian forces. They have to root out the infilteration by foreign terrorists. It is left up to England players to decide individually whether to proceed or to abandon the tour.

The signals look all green for England team to return for the test series. No matter what the motives are for this return (financial, solidarity, resolve against terrorism etc.), all the test playing countries will have to think hard before they refuse playing in certain countries due to security fears.

Hi Suresh,

Surely you realise that the reason why India, in all probability, will not tour Pak. next month has more to do with the terror attacks that hapened in India rather than the perceived security threat in Pakistan.It would be extremely tough for the Indian govt. to try to appear tough against a country that it says is not doing nearly enough to stop its territory from being used to plan & launch terror attacks against India, while at the same time allowing a cricket tour of that country by the Indian team to go ahead. We can debate all we want about cricket needing to be separated from politics and the rest of it, but we have to be practical too.

Hi Suresh,

Surely you realise that the reason why India, in all probability, will not tour Pak. next month has more to do with the terror attacks that happened in India rather than the perceived security threat in Pakistan.It would be extremely tough for the Indian govt. to try to appear tough against a country that it says is not doing nearly enough to stop its territory from being used to plan & launch terror attacks against India, while at the same time allowing a cricket tour of that country by the Indian team to go ahead. We can debate all we want about cricket needing to be separated from politics and the rest of it, but we have to be practical too.

India has no obligation whatsoever to Pakistan. After the terrorist attacks suspected to be from Pakistan, the tour is a "national" issue and not a cricket issue. Your suggestion is not just naive it's dangerous at this stage when the countries are so close to war with each other.

hi,

although pakistan has nothing to do with mumbai attacks, but even if we agree for the sake of argument that pakistan had some involovement in mumbai attacks and that those terrorists came to mumbai on a boat..what was the indian navy doing?? and where was the indian intelligence...if this is the quality of security that indians can provide england should never tour england. Pakistan's involvement in mumbai attacks is all fake. im happy that england is touring india but at the same time indian's also have a responsibility to tour pakistan.terrorists will never target the players

you must be joking

Now that the England tour is given the go ahead, not only India, but every nation HAS to tour Pakistan.

It says a lot about the Indian power in cricket now, money,IPL, economy.

Why should India tour Pakistan? IT SHOULD NOT EVEN THINK ABOUT IT FOR A COUPLE OF YEARS !!!!!
comparing India & pakistan is like comparing Apples and Oranges - If not for pakistan, India is a safe place - if not for India, pakistan still remains UNSAFE - and there in lies the difference - people who suggest otherwise should come back to planet Earth.

I do not think that India should tour Pakistan. Why should they ? There is no IPL in Pakistan that they should fear of missing out or any other lumpsum amounts offered by PCB. England returning to India is different because Indian Board is the richest and of course they haver to think of coming to India in order to secure their future with IPL. So for me Countries choosing one country over another is just because of money. Even a blind person can see that the Mumbai attacks are so recent but England still touring. Is it really not money.

When our national security is in danger why are we paying attention to cricket at the moment? Time again India have been hit by terrorist attacks and we seem to move on as a nation as if nothing happened. Its time we get serious and harness our resources against these attacks rather than wasting time in hosting a cricket matches only to make the cash rich BCCI richer.

Terrorist attack happened in Mumbai and not Karachi. England by touring India has once again proven that its all about money and nothing to do with seurity as we Pakistan have been saying. If for any reason IPL or ICL are not held because of sponsors pulling out, Austaralia, England, SA and NZ will shun India like they have done with Pakistan. Now is the time for us, Pakistan,India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to form a Asian Geoup.

hi malik & think india tour pakistan because india&pakistan love cricket so don't stop cricket in both contrary cricket will die in the contrary because both contrary having a bad give evrybody something to chill.plz don't stop cricket thanks

Its high time world should realize that NO country in the world is fully safe. I request everyone that just for a minute think with full honesty and without any biasness that How a situation in India is different from Pakistan.
How in the world can anybody claim that English players are safer in India? When a bunch of 12 terrorists can hijack the main biggest city of India for almost 2 complete days? Bombing happens in Pakistan as well, happened in England as well but the whole city was not hijacked for even an hour. How can anybody be so assure of the credibility of the Indian intelligence when such an activity was being planned in heart of the Mumbai city from around 25 days before the attacks (according to the INDIAN media) and they could not smell anything there? Honestly I have full sympathy with India, being from outside I condemn the killings of so many innocent people of any religion but please Pakistan itself is suffering from the same disease from years now and no one supported Pakistani cricket when needed. So how come now English or Australian boards can support Indian tours? And if they are touring India then they should first visit Pakistan and India should also tour Pakistan as the people of both the countries love this sport with same passion and it might just calm down the current situation between the two nuclear powers.

What has cricket got to do with politics? Its a shame that some of the comments above are accusing the whole of pakistan by saying that India should not tour in Pakistan. The pakistani team have not had serious cricket games in the last year or so, and now this series is also in doubt - just pathetic, I have pity on the Pakistanis. Recent events also prove the double standards that worldwide teams have, as are willing to tour India (money etc) despite various attacks in India every so often, but totally refuse to do so in Pakistan. What happens when an hindu extremist does a terrorist act - is the whole of India accused - I don't think so, and too right they shouldnt be accused. But why the case that a muslim extremist does something and fingers are pointed to the whole of the country. It is pure lack of education in the world that leads to extremists targeting the uneducated, and the lack of education in sterortyping the whole society based on a few idiots.

The Indian team definetely should not tour Pakistan. If these terrorists are admitting to get training in Pakistan and are able to attack in India, then the Indian national team in Pakistan would be sitting ducks just waiting to be attacked. This is a national issue, cricket should not be played in dangerous conditions, becuase even though I am a big fan, cricket is just a game at the end of the day. Goiing into Pakistan is much to dangerous for the Indian national team.

Anyways, India would own Pakistan wherever they play :)

Doesn't Pakistan have a responsibility as being part of civilized world?

I know think it is high time for the Indians to take ownership of their own problems. By putting the blame on Pakistan, the Indian Government has quite successfully (as always) taken the blame of it for its own mistakes. Anyway, as far as cricket is concerned, I personally would like to see the Indian team to come to Pakistan, our team had the courage to do even when we got DIRECT threats from extremists! And as far as England is concerned, it is ALL about the money!

Pakistanis have never said that they would not welcome Indians to their country to play cricket. Our captain, coach and everyone in the PCB hierarchy and government has openly welcomed the Indians to tour us in Jan/Feb 2009 and I appreciate Mr. Suresh Menon's stand on this issue. I am pretty sure that the English team would have not toured Pakistan had it been in this situation. Therefore, I think it is the moral responsibility of the Indian team to tour us to ensure that the process of dialogue continues between the two nations and that sport is not affected by politics and international matters. Although this seems highly unlikely due to the fact that Cricketing relations between the two countries are certainly affected by the state of political affairs between the two governments.
It is time for the people from both countries to stand up and rise above these matters and display solidarity, thus thwarting the nefarious designs of those elements who are seekin to drive a wedge b/w us

People just can't differentiate between politics and cricket. Everyone's favoured politics over cricket. It only shows a country is cheap if another country doesn't tour. Cricket is finishing anyway. Nobody is watching test cricket, people hardly watch 50 overs. 20/Twenty is in full swing, but hey terrorist attack threat. People likes contest like Pakistan vs India/Australia/England. If a person thinks he'll die, don't come out of home. A person's death is in the hand of God not in a freak terrorist. Well if the situation is too worse like in Zimbabwe then thats another scenario.

Without going into this useless arguments which country should tour to which country for playing cricket, it need to be understood with clear-head that this materialistic world is spining around monetary values, no matter what is on stake as long as the financial bonanza is there, a large number of people including professionals, journalists, sports personalities, actors, actresses, doctors, surgeons (EXCEPTS POLITICIANS)
shall join the party. And same is the case here even with the consent of ENGLAND now ready to resume INDIA tour or whether INDIA's reservation to honour the commitment to tour Pakistan in January.
Be my dears,,,,,, PRACTICAL this is the nude truth of this world,, everyone is going after their INTERESTS.... SELFISHLY....

I think at this point of time no one can enjoy cricket accross the borders. I would suggest the tour of india should be held back and rather cancelled. But what would happen to world cup. If india do not tour then pakistan will not turn up for the return series. Also rajistan royals will lose tanvir, younus and kamran for their quest to champions league amd sialkot may not go for the league. But at least BCCI will find a window for the league after cancellation. Definitely Modi will try hard to cancel the indian visist to pakistan thus they can find a window.

i think India should tour Pak provided all the players are on board. they are the ones on the field and their interests must be paramount. i think even the most hardened terrorists pakistani or indian will definitely succumb to the integrity that sport brings. this is not to say that there is more value put on sportsmen. by not touring pakistan india will merely play into terror tactics of "divide and rule" which is all too familiar to citizens of the subcontinent. by playing in pak, cricket might just put a small dent into terror plans at large and sometimes a small crack is enough to bring down even the most insurmountable wall.

As such there is no solid evidence that Pakistan (state or otherwise) was involved in Mumbai attacks, so abandoning Pakistan's tour as a protest will serve no purpose.

And if the Indian team does not visit Pakistan, the PCB should take a sterner stance and perhaps allow the ICL players selection in the International squad. Also future tours of Pakistan to India should also be frozen because security in India is the same as in Pakistan if not worse!

Nice inside Suresh-
Well i can go on forever about what happened in India now and in the past and how Pakistan is being part of attacks. The bigger picture is as a born Pakistani, Welcome to our world. We have been terrorized all our lives by extremist and fanatics. The quest still remain by cancelling such tour we let the terrorist win.
What happened in Mumbai is Shock and awe for innocent lives. My extended family still resides there but blaming it all on Pakistan is kind os childish. We can all argue and debate about this forever and people might prove me wrong.
But the tour should go on, dont let the terrorist win by cancelling the tour. To all my Paki fans " yes! at the end of the day its all about nickel and dimes. What can we do to make it happen. Besides hating".

One Love.

Faoroq well said! I think if the ordinary pakistani taxpayer decides that enough is enough and work towards a prosperous country in the lines of Turkey then things will all be fine let alone cricket. Time to send the afghans back to where they came from. The pakistani taxpayers should understand that their country is not some missionaries for charity and a gold tree for their army officers who have systematically looted the taxpayers money for their own gratification.

It is indeed sad to see so many negative comments about the tour, although leading cricket commentators are saying the tour should go as scheduled. It is true there is risk of attack, but that risk is everywhere both in India and Paksitan or even in srilanka. Should we then stop playing? The actual problem in my judgement is political. Take away the US led coalition forces from Afganistan, send Afgans back to their country from Pakistan,most likely the terrorists problem will go away. India should also be fair in its allegation. Who was behind the mumbai attack, no one knows. Common people never know who the actors are behind the scene. They react as the media plays the game, that is true everywhere in the world, east or west. Our politicians are to blame, they do not solve problems rather utilize it. The matches should take place if not in the subcontinent, middle east can be the venue.

The difference between touring India and touring Pakistan is that in the former case, terrorism is imported, while in the latter, it is homegrown. As seen in recent days, Pakistan has no intention of co-operating to bring the terrorists to justice in India.

As laudable using sport as a means of bridging barriers might be, it has also served the purpose of coercing regimes to give up their unjust ways, such as in the case of Pakistan. A sporting and economic boycott of Pakistan will help compell the Pakistani government to act against the terrorists who live on their soil.

India's cricket team must therefore follow the lead of its hockey team recently and avoid touring Paksitan.

Some people here are naive, did you guys know that one of the Mumbai attackers stopped at a nearby hospital and asked for water, he then proceeded to ask the bearer of that water what his religion was, when he said he was Hindu he shot the man dead.
The man who brought him water.
India should NOT tour Pakistan, even if Pakistan offers to give 75% of the tour earnings to the Mumbai victims trust fund.

With the Indian Intelligence officials firmly believing that EX ISI officers are behind the attack,I do not think it will be safe/wise for the Indian players to put the fate of their lives in the hands of an army and intelligence agency that its country does not trust.
England touring India is a very different scenario as there is no such belief within the England government that the Indian government/ army are promoting such rouge elements within the countries security forces.
Therefore if they feel that the Indian Security forces are able to keep the security issues under wraps it is fine for England to tour.

I cant believe people are still in denial that terrorists were Pakistani nationals. Yes, terror stuck Mumbai and not Karachi but terrorists were Pakistani nationals. We are deeply hurt with this act and Indians should not be compelled to have any cricket ties with Pakistan. Abandon the tour NOW!

How does England touring India make out reason for India touring Pakistan? Majority of Indians, are angry at the Mumbai terror attacks. It is all fine to talk of not mixing sport with politics. But History has been witness to such mix-up and will continue in future also. To take the politics line further, India can tour Pakistan only if the so-called "stateless actors" (nice euphemism, isn't it?) are handed over to India as demanded by India. I am an ostrich?, so be it! Period.

Let Pakistan take control of its entire area before India thinks of going. They don't do anything about certain parts of Pakistan. It is totally lawless. Very unstable government.

"India has never accepted Pakistan and will never accept its existence". This is the bottom line of all the debate.

Hindsight may be a luxury, but after what has happenned in Pakistan to the Sri Lankan team its clear the Government of India was right not to allow the indian team to tour Pakistan. Unfortunately, security measures there couldnt protect the visitors and i dont think any cricket board will risk their reputations to tour Pakistan in the near future.