Abandoned

The lasting image from Tuesdays terrorist attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore will be of a Pakistan military helicopter on the field of Gaddafi stadium. For Pakistan,it will stand as a symbol of that countrys refusal to acknowledge that reversing its support or at the least its indulgent attitude to terrorism has for long been in that countrys own interest. For cricket,the cinematic footage of players evacuating straight from the playing track to the airport will be hard to reconcile to. When terrorists struck the Sri Lankan team on its way to the third days play in Lahores elite heart,they compelled such extraordinary measures. Cricketers are accustomed to strong security precautions. But with six of theirs bearing injuries in Tuesdays terrorist attack,the sport will struggle for a while to retrieve its equilibrium.

The damage to Pakistan cricket will be more lasting,much to the sorrow of the entire cricket-playing world. Pakistan has struggled for years to assure potential visitors of proper security for cricket matches. Australia have not toured in a decade; in 2002,after the New Zealand team abandoned a series after a bomb attack outside their Karachi hotel,Pakistan hosted Australia at venues like Colombo and Sharjah. Last year,the ICC postponed the Champions Trophy after many teams refused to play in Pakistan. And now,with the Lahore incident,uncertainty has consolidated about the 2011 World Cup,which is to be co-hosted by Pakistan. After the Mumbai attack,India pulled out of a tour earlier this year; and it was that hole in Pakistans home calendar that Sri Lanka gamely offered to fill. Now,however,options to Pakistan offshoring their home matches,perhaps to venues in the UAE,will become even more unviable.

That option,with its advantage of telecast rights,may keep Pakistan crickets revenues out of the red. But removing a team from its home environment does not just have commercial implications. Cricketers gain character from their home conditions: Pakistan cricket,with its unstructured domestic tournaments,acquired a maverick and flamboyant character from the national selectors generous pickings from gully cricket. Besides,sport and the way it is hosted say a lot about a country. Ask the cities that vie,even during an economic downturn,to get the Olympics. Ask,in fact,the gracious spectators in Pakistani venues during Indias friendship tour of 2004; they knew it was not just about the scoreline. Today,if Pakistan finds it impossible to tap into cricket to negate negative images,it will find that the reasons are complex. But essentially their complexity draws from the Pakistan establishments too-clever-by-half strategy on terrorist assets.