da bwin： So much has been said and written about the security arrangements for this. Less has been said about the effect it’s having on the home players.
Dileep Premachandran in Chennai09-Dec-2008
A sniper takes up position on the roof of the MA Chidambaram Stadium © Getty Images
While being body-searched with a thoroughness that bordered on thediscomfiting, one could see beyond the door and into the lobby of the TajCoromandel. The Indian team had returned an hour earlier after a practicesession under leaden skies at Chepauk, and one of the players was standingthere talking to a police officer. By the time this writer was finally allowed in -even the stick of sunscreen scrutinised as a potentially lethal object – the chat had become an argument. The player was gesticulating angrily before turning on his heel and walking away. “You could at least have asked me,” he said as a parting shot to the officer.So much has been said and written about the security arrangements for thisgame and how England were convinced to return and continue the tour. Lesshas been said about the effect it’s having on the home players. Many ofthem have spent vast tracts of time in Chennai, either for league cricketor as trainees at the MRF Pace Foundation. In less troubled times, it wascommon for friends to drop by or for the players themselves to go out oncetraining was done for the day. Now, with the security blanket weighingdown heavily, the often wrongly diagnosed Cabin Fever may manifest itself.In days gone by, it was common to see people loiter around the teamhotel in search of an autograph or a handshake from the stars. If you havesuch intentions this time, don’t even bother. It takes a couple of minutesjust to have the car inspected, and getting past the metal-detector andthe frisking expert is another ordeal. Even inside, there’s no room tobreathe. As soon as I paused, a steward was next to me, asking politelywhere I needed to go. “It’s been like this since the teams arrived,” saidthe book-store owner.The security is everywhere. The city’s police chief says the teams will be protected by 5000 security personnel – including a thousand policemen ringing the Coromandel – in a complex, multi-layered operation from the hotel to the stadium. There are commandos -300 have been deployed – all over, starting at the gate. Hands on the butt of their automatic weapons and eyes watching the road and neighbouring buildings, they stand there as poker-faced as theGrenadier Guards at Buckingham Palace, even as a light drizzle falls.The scene at the ground was even more unreal. Pre-match days at the MAChidambaram Stadium always attracted a decent crowd eager to catch aglimpse of their heroes. Not this time. When the Indians turned up shortlyafter noon to have a nets session, the silence was punctuated only by thesound of bat on ball and the odd raised voice. No yells or shrieks ofencouragement from the stands, and certainly no extempore analysis fromthe hacks, who had all been banished to a faraway stand.Those nearest to the players, the nets bowlers and ball boys apart, wereseveral dozen Rapid Action Force commandos standing just beyond theboundary. In their dull-blue camouflage fatigues, the circle of soldiersmade for a surreal sight. All of them were facing away from the action,their eyes trained instead on concrete stands and huge piles of plasticchairs that had yet to be arranged properly.India had a decent workout in intensely humid conditions and, when Englandarrived soon after two, there was an impromptu press conference in thedining hall of the TNCA clubhouse. Alastair Cook spoke of “getting back towhat we know” but everyone present at this famous old venue felt those simpler times may never return. Cricket writers are often guilty of using words like arsenal, fusillade and artillery, butthe sooner we can watch a game without a hundred assault riflesscrutinising us, the better it will be for everyone. Impassive commandosincluded.