Bangladesh team leaves New Zealand following Christchurch attack

The Bangladesh cricket team was faced with a rather precarious situation yesterday in the Christchurch city of New Zealand. 17 of their 19 team members went to the Masjid Al Noor Mosque in order to offer Friday prayers. However, a gunman by the name of Brendan Tarrant started firing inside the holy place that led to the demise of 49 people. Luckily, the players didn’t enter the mosque.

They stayed on the team bus for around 10 minutes, realising the gravity of the situation following which the police escorted them to the Hagley Oval where the cricketers were locked inside the dressing room. The third Test, which was scheduled to be played from today, had to be called off. It was later learned that the Tigers’ players went back to the team hotel unscathed.

After the shambolic occurring in Christchurch, the Bangladesh team has left New Zealand and the cricketers were undoubtedly relieved to be boarding the flight back home. They travelled from the central city hotel to the Christchurch Airport under police escort as per reports in stuff.co.nz. The support staff of the national team was scheduled for a later flight.

A horrific development

During the incident, the team bus was about 50 yards away and the players were concerned about how to get out of the vehicle, evading any danger. The entire Bangladesh until could hear the gunshots from the bus, however, didn’t lose their cool at any point. Only spin bowling coach Sunil Joshi and two of their players in Nayeem Hasan and Liton Das stayed back at the hotel.

Among the support staff was also an Indian, the video analyst of the team, who put forth the horrors of the development. Khaled Mashud, the team manager, mentioned that the Bangladesh team eschewed death by about four minutes. The attack has sent shockwaves around the entire nation and even the New Zealand Prime Minister termed it as ‘one of the darkest phases in their country’s history’.

[interaction id=”5c7f7535f115e0af40e0fc0b”]

Get the latest Cricket News and updates, Match Predictions, Fantasy Cricket Tips and lots more on CricTracker.com.