5 terror attacks that shook the cricketers and the cricketing fraternity

Recently, the field of cricket has witnessed an incident that nobody will like to remember or recall again. A match of Shpageeza Cricket League was in action but all of sudden a bomb blast near the stadium shook the entire Kabul. This incident took place on the 29^th of July, 2022.

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The sources have learned that this blast was executed in the form of a suicide blast during the T20 competition in the city of Kabul. The authorities rushed to execute the player of both teams from the field. The representatives of the United Nations were also there in the stadium it happened.

Although, it’s not a first-of-its-kind incident that affected cricket and the cricketers. Earlier, there have been instances when many cricketers and teams went through these terror attacks.

So, here we’ll have a look at the five instances when terrorists went on to risk the lives of cricketers and fans too.

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New Zealand Tour of Sri Lanka – 1987-1992

The New Zealand team survived a major bomb blast in the Pakistani city of Karachi back in the year 2015. A few decades back, the Kiwis canceled their tour of Sri Lanka due to a blast in Colombo in 1987. This blast claimed the lives of almost 100 people there. The same thing happened to repeat in five years later in 1992 when there was a blast outside the New Zealand team’s hotel.

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The visitors reacted to this with a similar intensity to that of five years back in 1987. The blast of 1992 occurred during the third of the three-match Test series against the hosts. It made the visitors leave Sri Lanka again after five years due to the same reason.

New Zealand Tour of Pakistan – 2002

It was the month of May in 2002, and the consequences of the bomb blast at the Karachi hotel left the cricketing fraternity in a shock. The then-senior batter Inzamam-ul-Haq and Shahid Afridi could easily understand the message it will bring to the fraternity about Pakistan.

The blast took place outside the hotel in Karachi where the visitors’ New Zealand team was staying, resulting in the deaths of 12 individuals. The physiotherapist of the Kiwi team, Dayle Shackel sustained a cut on the forearm due to a flying piece of glass, although the players remained unharmed. Following this, New Zealand left Pakistan and withdrew from the Test series along with the scheduled three ODIs.

England Tour of India and Champions League – 2008

India sustained a shocking terror attack on Mumbai that shook the entire nation with its intensity. Meanwhile, England was touring India and they were in action during the seven-match ODI series. India had already taken the winning lead of 5-0 against the visitors. English team left to their country as the remaining two ODIs were called off.

The second match of the Test series scheduled at Mumbai was shifted and the Champions League tournament was also postponed. It was all due to the fact that authorities were still figuring out the intensity of the incident and its impacts on the common lives.

Sri Lanka Tour of Pakistan – 2009, Attack on Sri Lanka’s team bus in the city of Lahore

Undoubtedly, it was the first of its kind of incident in which the terrorists directly targeted the player. Terrorists went on to launch an open fire with weapons and other arms on the bus that was carrying the visitor’s team to the Gaddafi Stadium of Lahore.

This attack claimed the lives of seven individuals whereas the Sri Lanka players also sustained injuries in this terror attack. They left the stadium immediately and got evacuated to their home nation, Sri Lanka.

In the aftermath of this incident, Pakistan had to pay for this by the ban of cricket on their soil for the next 13 years. None of the international teams toured the South Asian country due to security reasons.

Bangladesh Tour of New Zealand – 2019

Terrorists launched an attack in Christchurch on the 15^th of March, 2019. It was a very unprecedented day for New Zealand. A lot of people died in this incident, as a result of this blast, the third test between the visitors Bangladesh and New Zealand was postponed as the Bangladeshi team escaped very closely from a mass shooter.

So, here were the incidents which included terror and hampered the cricket and the players, sometimes fans too.