Mumbai turns into a fortress

MUMBAI: “Can I tell you something? Whatever happened at Lahore will not happen here. We will not allow that,” proclaimed one of the AK-47 wielding cops in Marathi at the Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC), where the Sri Lankans had the first training session of their 50-day tour of India.
The Lankans, in full attendance for their four-hour nets session, had an enthusiastic set of bowlers to assist them. Keeping them company were 100 policemen, turning the usually quiet and desolate ground into a well-populated fortress.

Sri Lanka spinner Muthiah Muralitharan bowling to team-mate Tillakaratne Dilshan during practice at the Bandra Kurla Complex in Mumbai ahead of the 3-day game against Indian Board President’s XI starting on Wednesday

The Mumbai police and the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) are both on high alert for the Lankans, who are on their first trip to another subcontinent nation since the shameful incident of March 3, 2009, when terrorists attacked their team bus in Lahore. “My job starts from 8 in the morning, the moment they step out of their hotel to arrive at the ground. From co-ordinating with the escorts and speaking with the police staff here till the time they safely reach the hotel, we are on high alert,” stated Ajay Desai, security manager of the Mumbai Cricket Association.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) of the Bandra Kurla Complex, Zone 8, Brijesh Singh, has been entrusted with the job of planning the security, which the visitors say they are happy with.

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