Sunday sees the start of a new series, but had the Dwayne Bravos not resorted to industrial action, we would actually have been in the thick of battle against the West Indies, not Sri Lanka.

Of course, 30 years ago, for entirely different (and sad) reasons, even India had to abruptly end a tour of Pakistan.

October 31, 1984, is when we were playing an ODI in Sialkot — the day the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, was gunned down by her security personnel.

Owing to the 1971 war, which led to the birth of Bangladesh, Mrs Gandhi wasn’t the most popular figure in Pakistan and the fear was that Sunil Gavaskar and his men would be made a target by elements opposed to any contact with India.

So, not only was the Sialkot ODI abandoned (the announcement was made after Gavaskar and Co. left for Lahore by road), the ODI in Peshawar and the final Test, in Karachi, were called off as well.

In the context of the two countries, it was a situation without precedent. And, remember, Pakistan was then ruled by a military dictator — Zia-ul Haq.

It would have been very different had we been touring England or Australia.

Dilip Vengsarkar, who went on to captain India and also served as chairman of the selection committee, was going great guns when word spread that Mrs Gandhi had been assassinated.

“Sandeep Patil and I had a long partnership and we’d silenced the Sialkot crowd... I was nearing a hundred when Javed Miandad came running to say somebody from the crowd had mentioned the Prime Minister’s killing...

“The news, it seems, had been broken by Radio Pakistan... I was dumbfounded and couldn’t believe what I’d heard. Obviously, we weren’t in any frame of mind to carry on and, sure enough, the ODI had to be abandoned...

“Thirty years have gone by, but it’s a day one can’t forget,” the Mumbai-based Vengsarkar told The Telegraph on Saturday.

He added: “I must mention that the Pakistan players, be it captain Zaheer Abbas or Miandad, looked affected too and came to our dressing room to offer condolences and extend moral support...

“I won’t forget their gesture as well.”

Vengsarkar remained not out on 94. Incidentally, keeping him company was Ravi Shastri, currently the Team Director.

This Reporter was then on his first assignment overseas and, well, it was a day when a million things happened.

I can’t, for example, not recall the concern showed by manager Raj Singh Dungarpur. Concern for his players and the media.

Raj Singh is no more and men like him aren’t to be found in the Board of Control for Cricket in India in Narayanswamy Srinivasan’s raj.

Five years after his death, few remember Raj Singh. It’s a shame.

Anyway, back to Sialkot, from where the lights of Jammu can be viewed on clear nights...

Thirty years ago, there would be just a handful of journalists (with absolutely nobody from TV) on tour, but that’s not the point.

The Jinnah Stadium didn’t have a media centre, so we’d been made to park ourselves on the roof of a small structure, with the crowd around us.

Apparently, the AIR commentators were the first to get the news of Mrs Gandhi’s assassination, on their hotline, and that was immediately relayed to Raj Singh.

Raj Singh began liasing with officials from the Indian high commission in Islamabad and the local administration, led by the deputy commissioner, one Qureishi.

At the same time, realising that the media from home was exposed to the crowd, Raj Singh sent word that we should quietly assemble near the dressing room.

Would any manager bother in 2014? No way.

Confirmation of the worst came from a tearful Raj Singh: “Gentlemen, our Prime Minister has been shot. We are calling off the match at lunch.”

He then cautioned us: “Ek saath raho, idhar-udhar mat jao... Sensitive time hai.”

The “sensitive time” bit was, under the circumstances, a massive understatement.

For security reasons, Gavaskar and the rest of the team left the ground quickly and were soon on the highway to Lahore.

Gavaskar didn’t play in that abandoned ODI, though, and deputy Mohinder Amarnath had been the stand-in captain.

We, in the media, also left almost immediately. First for the luxury-oozing guest house, where we’d been housed, and then (under armed escort) for Lahore.

After a day in Lahore, New Delhi sent word that the team had to return home “by the first available flight.”

As the situation in our capital was getting out of hand, Gavaskar and Co. flew to Karachi before leaving for home in two batches.

The team included two Sikhs, Balwinder Singh Sandhu and Maninder Singh.

As for us, in the media, we had to wait another day before being accorded priority on a Lahore-New Delhi PIA flight.

There were words of sympathy from many... In the hotel, at the airport, on the flight... It’s so much better when politicians stay off the pitch.

Even the 30th anniversary of Mrs Gandhi’s gunning down became such an issue.

Footnote: Sialkot, by the way, is Sania Mirza’s sasural. In 1984, however, husband Shoaib Malik was only two years old, while Sania wasn’t born.