The turmoil in Mumbai could force some of the sport's biggest sponsors to claim millions of pounds from their insurers. Within hours of the atrocities, executives were counting the cost of cancelling the final one-day fixtures between India and England and trying to estimate what damage may be done to their elaborate marketing and advertising plans even if new arrangements are put in place for the two scheduled Test matches.

England's tour to India has attracted multimillion-pound deals with companies such as the Royal Bank of Scotland, Pepsi and Microsoft, and broadcasting rights' contracts have been some of the most valuable negotiated on the sub-continent. A commercial on the Neo Sports channel, broadcaster of the one-day internationals in India, started at about £4,000 for ten seconds.

But Chris Lightfoot, managing director of Whitestone International, the brand expert that acts as consultant for the ECB, said sponsors were “perplexed” about how to deal with the fallout from the terrorist attacks. “Some of these companies will have had deals in place with long lead times, which makes it difficult to pull out,” he said. “But it will now be very tricky to activate some of their sponsorships. They are perplexed because of the inevitable loss of exposure. Some might decide they have to claim from their insurers for their losses.”

With cricket's first Champions League postponed and doubts about the safety of sport in India, Lightfoot said: “The biggest damage has been to ‘Brand India'. People will avoid the place for obvious reasons.”

Cricket remains an attractive proposition for sponsors, though, with the high-profile Ashes series next year. One result is a four-year deal for Andrew Flintoff with Puma, the sportswear manufacturer. The England all-rounder will have ambassadorial status in a deal thought to be worth as much as £1million a year, depending on whether England can win the Ashes on home soil.

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