when cricket is not just a game then....

Is it possible for one team to arrive in Mumbai and indulge in mass murder and have another team play cricket in Lahore immediately after? In sports minister M S Gill’s question lies the answer to whether the decision to cancel the national cricket team’s tour
of Pakistan is justified. In the mature, measured view of some political commentators and champions of the cause of sport, the tour could have enhanced goodwill, especially because the passion for cricket in India and Pakistan has made it more than a game. But at a time when India — not just the government but also the governed — seeks of those in authority across the border a clear indication of their intent to do everything possible to root out the basis of such murderous terrorist incursions as in Mumbai
, non-cancellation of the tour — because of cricket’s importance in the subcontinent — could have allowed Pakistan to misinterpret the gesture as a softening of India’s stand. At times like this, nations define themselves.