It was not just cricket authorities and fans in India who were relieved to resume the tour interrupted following the Mumbai siege. Sports spread-betting firms, already counting the cost of the postponement of both the Champions Trophy in Pakistan, and the Champions League for the best domestic Twenty20 teams, feared a further loss of business:

“It has been pretty quiet on cricket desks recently and losing this series as well would have been quite a cost to us, even though it is only two tests,” says Ben Graham, cricket trader at Spreadex.