Around 200 policemen, another hundred from the paramilitary wing and a further 50 or so from other security divisions were deployed to 'protect' India and Bangladesh cricket teams.

If you were standing inside the stadium premises on Monday morning, awaiting their arrival, you would have thought you were inside a fortress and a war was being waged in Chittagong.

But that didn't draw any complaint from anyone, let alone the players, who had to wiggle their way through the imposing security net.

The arrangement would surely impress security experts but some people must remember that this is a cricket ground. Sanctity must be restored and if there are hundreds of policemen roaming around the ground, it just doesn't feel good, especially for journalists who were brutally assaulted by the law-enforcing agency in Chittagong last year during the Bangladesh-Australia series.