DIFFICULT AS it is when the TV keeps showing destruction and orchestrated murder on a grand scale this piece shall ignore the human aspects of the past week in Mumbai – they are covered elsewhere in this publication – and concentrate on the effect on cricket.

And what effects the marauding gunmen, grenades in hotel lobbies and battlefield scenes have had.

The England Performance squad missed the carnage by chance, their training camp moved at the last minute from Mumbai to Bangalore, and are joining the full England one day squad who are already home; the Champions League is postponed, with Middlesex luckily escaping being in the Taj Mahal hotel by 24 hours; luminaries such as Shane Warne are concerned about playing in India again and next month's two-Test series against England is hanging by the slimmest of threads.

Kevin Pietersen has publicly stated that no player will be forced to tour and now they must wait for the various security reports.

"The BBCI (Board of Control for Cricket in India] will provide one and the ECB (English Cricket Broad] security officer Reg Dickason will compile one, but I'm not sure there is time for an independent (report] because if we are going to play the series the players need to get out there pretty soon and start preparing," said Sean Morris, chief executive of the Professional Cricketer's Association. "It was thought that with the families in such distress it was best to get the players back home, allow everyone to cool down the emotions and then calmly examine the situation and make a well informed decision about the Test series, but the basis of that decision will come from the security reports."

Such is the mistrust of Lalit Modi, the BCCI vice-president and shotgun mouth, that the BCCI report will probably be taken with a pinch of salt by the players. Of more importance will be the thoughts of ECB security officer Dickason.

"The players completely trust Reg, especially after his work concerning touring Pakistan, so if he says 'go', it is very likely the players will go," said Morris.

If 'no', then the tour is off and another battle will commence between the two countries' governing boards.

Relations between the ECB and BCCI are strained at best. The Indian Premier League has made India the most powerful member of the world cricket fraternity and Modi, one of the masterminds behind Indian resurgence and a moneyman through and through, has enjoyed bullying and demanding from other countries. The Australians felt it last January when the BCCI threatened to leave their tour of Australia unless Harbhajan Singh's ban for calling Andrew Symonds a 'monkey' was rescinded.

England have felt it constantly as their players are almost excluded from the IPL and Modi's demands for participation escalate, and the lesser nations feel it as he offers money they desperately need to survive.

He even tried it this week as people were still being attacked, shot and burned out of hotel rooms. Desperate to save the Champions League and the $900m, 10-year TV deal that goes with it, he claimed that the teams were keen to play it at different venues away from Mumbai.

This was utter rubbish as Australia had already banned its players from travelling and Middlesex were staying at home. Then he announced the Test series against England would go ahead – Chennai deputising for Mumbai – a claim that had Pietersen exerting his authority by dismissing Modi's claim.

The problem here is this issue is greater than money or power. Groups of marauding gunmen targeting British passport holders in a symphonic attack is terrifying. What is needed is a considered response, cooperation between all interested cricketing parties and a unified front. And that starts with engaging brain before mouth. What we have had from Modi is the lashing out of a child who sees his prize disappearing.

The mood among some of the England players has been of shock as Modi has politicked as live images of people being attacked have been shown.

But for Modi it is much more than this Test series at stake. His real concern is the future of the IPL, the greatest cricketing cash cow ever and the major source of India's current dominance of the world game.

If Warne and others think it is too risky to play then the tournament becomes little more than a sideshow. When Jaipur suffered bomb attacks during the IPL tournament in May, Warne and Shane Watson were almost on the way home. The Indian response was a threat to tear up their contracts. It worked as the players remained, but it might not anymore because a terrorist bomb, a hazard for all around the globe, is markedly different to gangs marching into restaurants, train stations, churches and hotels spraying bullets and grenades.

Modi should take a leaf out of Pietersen's book. He has spoken like a diplomat and has demonstrated an understanding, compassion and gravitas that the administrators have lacked.

Whatever happens the BCCI must realise that cricket needs all countries to be part of a concerted decision process, England if at all possible must return for the two Test matches and countries must try to return to Pakistan, at present a pariah starved of tours. The game – and all must remember that it is just a game – needs to stop bickering and unite.