London, August 10: VVS Laxman was at Birmingham’s famous Balaji Temple along with his uncle Hargopal and computer analyst Dhananjay when he heard about the trouble near the team hotel. Manager Anirudh Chaudhary sent out a message asking players to touch base urgently, and the three rushed back to the Marriott.
As the unrest that started at a peace rally in Tottenham in the wake of a police shooting incident over the weekend spread from the suburbs of London to the second most populous city in Britain, several Indian cricketers saw their off-field plans being upset on Monday.
Skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni, who is here with wife Sakshi, saw the rioting and arson on TV when he went to his room to keep his shopping before heading out for a restaurant later in the evening. Very soon, Dhoni came to know that looters were storming almost the same places where he had shopped.
“We were out shopping at the city centre. We were there for quite some time. We had plans to go for dinner. But Zak, our security officer, advised against it,” Dhoni said.
Just before midday came reports of streetfighting between police and rioters not far from the Marriott. The news from London was that the much-anticipated football friendly between England and Holland at Wembley had been called off.
Later on Monday evening, large groups of hooded young men, their faces hidden and knuckles wrapped in cloth, appeared in the streets around the Bull Ring square, Birmingham’s main retail hub. They were mobilised and organised, subsequent reports suggested, by the rioters in London, using social media.
They thudded through the back alleys of the neighbourhood all night, carrying large plastic bags spilling over with goods looted from shops and showrooms, playing hide and seek with police vans that raced about, their beacons flashing and sirens wailing.
Inside the team hotel, the kitchen staff got busy. Room service orders increased as the night grew old. “There was good food in the hotel. So we didn’t complain and tried to make the most of the evening,” Dhoni said.
The home team too was tense.
Andrew Strauss spoke about seeing police cars and receiving security advice to stay indoors. “A few of the guys were out early, but I wasn’t actually. We got some advice from the security manager to come back to the hotel,” Strauss said.
On Tuesday morning, as an uneasy calm sat over the streets carpeted by broken glass, the players remained anxious. Suresh Raina stepped out and asked an Indian reporter if it was safe yet. He got a negative reply, shook his head, and went back inside.
Several others were asking if the Test would start on schedule on Wednesday. “Hoga kya?”
At the nets, the side sweated it out in an extended session. The focus, as Dhoni said at the press conference, was on cricket. But as evening approached, the local police asked the team to get into the bus early.
“We just want to escort them to their hotel and get over with it. We have a number of things on our minds,” said an officer.
–Agencies–