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India v/s England: Cometh English team, cometh uncertainty

In one of England’s previous series, in 2008-09, the 7-match ODI series was reduced to five with the last two being cancelled following the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai

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England’s Joe Root during practice in Mumbai on Tuesday
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There is a fresh cloud of uncertainty hovering over the ongoing series between India and England, which has already seen three Tests with two to go.

Following the death of Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, there are doubts over the venue of the fifth Test in Chennai, which is scheduled from December 16.

The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) secretary Ajay Shirke said on Tuesday that the board was closely monitoring the situation there and in constant touch with the staging association, TNCA. Shirke, though, said that there are "a number of alternate venues" available should the Test be forced away from Chennai.

This follows the uncertainty that hounded the series following Lodha Commission's recommendations because of which a MoU between BCCI and England & Wales Cricket Board could not be signed and that the England team had to bear the tour expenses.

Following reports on the issue before the start of the series, England media manager Danny Reuben made it clear that the team was focussed on cricket and not worried about anything off-the-field that could hamper the series.

It was not the first time that an uncertainty prevailed over a series involving England in India. There have been quite a few instances of it.

In 1984-85 when England came for a five-Test series followed by the ODIs, the days leading up to the first Test in Bombay (as Mumbai was then known) was marred by two assassinations.

The first was of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and within a few days, of the deputy Percy Norris, the UK's deputy high commissioner in what was then called Bombay.

In fact, the England team was hosted by Norris at the start of the series and was shot dead just a day before the start of the series in Mumbai.

Former England off-spinner Vic Marks, who was a member of the England squad and played in the ODIs, remembered that tour for Norris's assassination.

Marks, who is covering the series as Guardian's cricket correspondent, may not remember India's only win of that series or leg-spinner Laxman Sivaramakrishnan's 12 wickets in that match as vividly as the uncertainty that was cast on the series following Norris's assassination. And of course, he remembers the Bombay Test for Mike Gatting's first Test century (136 in the second innings).

In one of England's previous series, in 2008-09, the seven-match ODI series was reduced to five matches with the last two being cancelled following the 26/11 terror attacks on Mumbai. The subsequent two-Test series was rescheduled, the matches relocated from Ahmedabad and Mumbai to Chennai and Mohali.

England would be hoping that the next time they visit India, their focus is purely on the game and without any distraction.

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