Recalling the horrors of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, former England pacer Steve Harmison discussed at length about the decision of the England team to resume their tour of India.
On that ill-fated night of 26th November 2008, England was playing India in an ODI match at Cuttack, when tragedy struck in Mumbai. The team, that had set its base in the very Taj Palace that came under attack, decided to fly back to UAE and then take a call on the remainder of the tour.
Only after leaving India and being assured of their safety, England took the all important call and returned to India to complete the Test series. It was a decision, which spoke volumes of the relationship between India and England, as cricket was seen as a remedy, to the wounds inflicted due to terrorism. At the end, the sport won, as the two sides were involved in a fierce Test series which India won 1-0.
The victory which came in Chennai was extremely special, as the hosts chased down a colossal target of 387 on the final day. Post that win Sachin Tendulkar, who even scored a ton, expressed his gratitude to England for returning for the tour.
Recalling that time, Harmison in his book wrote,
“Me, Andrew Flintoff, and Kevin Pietersen were watching the terrible events unfold. There were bodies lying in the road in front of the famous Taj Palace hotel, and the building itself was ablaze. Gunshots could be heard as the terrorists went through the rooms killing guests. ‘Chilling’ doesn’t even begin to describe it – this was the same hotel we’d stayed in two weeks before. Those rooms where people were being slain as they cowered in corners were the same ones we’d stayed in.”
”Eventually, the players flew home, and then on to a holding camp in Abu Dhabi before the first Test in Chennai – the two Tests were moved from Ahmedabad and Mumbai to Chennai and Mohali, then – Captain Kevin Pietersen reiterating that a decision on whether to return to India would be left down to individuals. I put my trust in Reg Dickinson, our security expert, who was still in India finding out what was happening. When he came to Abu Dhabi, I had a good chat with him on my own. I asked him outright, ‘Is it all right to be going back?’ When he looked me in the eyes and said, ‘Yes, it’ll be fine,’, that’s all I needed to hear. I trusted Reg implicitly. From that point on, it was a simple decision for me – we go,” Harmison added.
Recalling Tendulkar’s emotional message to the England team, he said,
“But India is cricket crazy and we felt that if we didn’t go back, the misery and the mourning would just go on a little bit longer. We knew that going back would be good for them, almost part of the healing process.”
“The defeat in Chennai was the only Test loss in my career that I wasn’t massively bothered about. I’m not sure even a scriptwriter could have come up with what happened – Sachin Tendulkar, the great Indian hero, walking off having hit a hundred and the winning runs at the same time. He was in tears thanking us in the dressing room. It was like it was written in the stars that it should pan out like that. There was a lump in the throat to see one of the greatest players of all time like that. He’d just taken a hundred off us and his team had beaten us and now he was in our dressing-room thanking us. It was nothing in the grand scheme of things, but it was something for them to celebrate, be happy about. That was more than a game of cricket, it was a healing process. I left Chennai feeling proud to have played in that game.”
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