Miraculous escape for Bangla cricketers, tour called off

Christchurch: Bangladesh’s cricket team escaped unscathed after a deadly shooting at a mosque in New Zealand, an official said Friday.

Bangladesh Cricket Board spokesman Jalal Yunus said most of the team were bussed to the mosque in Christchurch and were about to go inside when the incident happened.

“They are safe. But they are mentally shocked. We have asked the team to stay confined in the hotel,” he said.

Opening batsman Tamim Iqbal wrote on Twitter: “Entire team got saved from active shooters!!! Frightening experience and please keep us in your prayers.” Local media said multiple people were killed in the incident.

“Alhamdulillah Allah save us today while shooting in Christchurch in the mosque,” tweeted another player, Mushfiqur Rahim. “We r extremely lucky…never want to see this things happen again….pray for us.”

Shrinivas Chandrasekaran, the team’s high performance analyst, posted: “Just escaped active shooters!!! Heartbeats pumping badly and panic everywhere!!” Mazhar Uddin, a reporter for Bangladesh’s Daily Star who is travelling with the team, said they were told a shooting was going on when they arrived at Christchurch’s Masjid Al Noor.

“The distraught Bangladesh players got inside a bus and laid down on the floor after the warning,” he reported.

The authorities have called off the third and final Test match at the Hagley Oval starting Saturday.

The players were initially barred from leaving the bus but, after several minutes, disembarked and made their way through to the Hagley Park ground. After that they went back to their hotel. The manager Khaled Mashud is in contact with both the NZC and BCB.

According Cricinfo: “Much of the coaching staff were back in the team hotel while the head coach Steve Rhodes was at the ground. Liton Das and Nayeem Hasan were also back in the hotel and have been contacted, and told to stay back at the hotel.”

AFP