Cricket can and should wait

It need not be in the hands of English cricket board or their players to decide if they should return back home during this critical time. It should be in the hands of Indian cricket board and its players. Most importantly a unanimous decision should have been made by now and it’s to ask them to go back home.

Because now is not about cricket. It’s not about any misplaced sense of loyalty to your contract or any agreement between two cricketing nations. It is not even about questioning our ability to protect this English team from danger (because we sure will).

No. It’s about being with the people they should be with, their family. It’s about telling their loved ones those very same words. It’s about seeing their children run towards them with that pure and innocent smile and ensuring them a peaceful night’s sleep knowing their dad is beside.

And as for us we deserve to find the same happiness and peace too. The opportunity to close our eyes for few seconds and feel what happened in Mumbai was nothing but a very bad dream. And sure cricket (sports in general) has this extraordinary capacity to give us this getaway. Of all forms of art, sport is the one that can bring uninhibited joy to an entire nation during its worst time (as soccer did for Brazil and Argentina).

But now is not the time. Because of all the people, the ones who deserve this happiness the most would be the family of the victims. We should wait for them to join us again to be a part of this happiness. Now we should allow them to mourn their loss in peace. Give them the privacy they need, a shoulder to lean on and shed their tears. To tell them how sorry we are and will be there for them during their hour of need.

There will come a time (sooner than later), when this city/nation will stand up again even more strongly and continue with its life. That’s what resilient nations do. We will do so too with indomitable courage and a smile on our faces.

That would be the time for cricket to show us its face and take us on the promised getaway.

It is with this message we would like to send KP and co back home for now.

We would want them to come back when they feel ready mentally, as we still have some unfinished business left on the cricket field. Only when they are at peace with themselves they can be at their best. And this flowering Indian cricket team led by Dhoni (the potential face of modern India) deserves no less than a best fit English team to compete with. And off the field they will be welcomed back as our guests and be a part of this country and its life during their stay.

Because this is what India is all about. It’s a land of opportunities, mystical beauty, diverse culture and more importantly hospitable people with right priorities.