Yes the England team lost the series in India and yes there were things to critics about their performance—Shane Warne’s jibe about Monty Panesar’s lack of guile has never rung truer than after this tour, Steve Harmison’s attitude away from home is still deeply frustrating and in continuing to pick Ian Bell ahead of Owais Shah the selectors are taking loyalty to Bush-like levels—but all this pales into insignificance compared to the fact that the tour went ahead. That we are talking about cricket not security today is a small victory for civilisation against the terrorists.
Those responsible for the Mumbai atrocities had many aims. One of them was to scare the Western world away from doing business with India. This made it crucial that the Test matches took place both as a symbol of defiance to the terrorists and as a gesture of solidarity with the people of this great democracy.
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