Chris Broad looks back at the Lahore terror attack that took place 10 years ago

At a moment of atrocity, Chris Broad remained calm and helped a wounded colleague survive and hence has been hailed as a hero ever since. The 61-year-old match referee reminisces a horrific incident from 10 years back. On March 3, 2009, six policemen were killed along with the driver of the bus transporting Broad, the match referee, and the team of umpires. The entire crew was the ones officiating a Test match between Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

The incident occurred on the third day of the said Test match. The former English cricketer, Chris Broad witnessed their driver being shot in the neck. He could hear the front glass of the vehicle fully shatter as multiple bullets poured down. Amidst all of this chaos, former Nottinghamshire and England batsman could also hear the explosion of grenades as terrorists attacked Sri Lanka’s coach and the minibus which followed behind carrying Broad and his colleagues.

The very valiant Broad counts himself lucky he is not tormented by the flashbacks anymore. The father of current England Test cricketer Stuart Broad said, “Anything after is a bonus. My brother died at the age of 26. I know life can be cut short,” and hence he considers life as “fatalistic”. Following that gruesome incident, Pakistan was forbidden from hosting any ICC events.

Ten years down the line, most teams still refuse to take a tour and play in Pakistan. Last year, New Zealand refused to play a T20I series in Pakistan, and in January, Australia turned down a request to visit for two one-day internationals. However, eight PSL games will be held in Karachi, including the final on March 17, with the PCB confirming the games will go ahead as planned despite escalating tensions with India. The PCB is, in fact, hopeful that they will get Sri Lanka, the team that faced the atrocity 10 years back, to play two Tests in Pakistan in October.

How Chris Broad saved Umpire Ahsan Raza’s life

The former Notts batsman was hailed as a hero after he heroically moved ahead, breaking cover, to apply pressure as blood oozed from the severely wounded parts of umpire Ahsan Raza’s body.  “It was an automatic reaction, to help Ahsan. Whether it helped or not, I don’t know. I saw a huge amount of blood coming out of his back. I leapt up and put pressure on his back to try and stop the blood,” Chris Broad told The Post.

“You can’t go back. What happened has happened. If anything like that happened again I couldn’t predict my actions in the moment. It was an automatic reaction, to help Ahsan. Whether it helped or not, I don’t know,” he said.

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