Simon Taufel tussles to bail out of the Sri Lanka bus-attack trauma in Lahore

Even after 11 years following the attack on the Sri Lankan team-bus in Lahore, the visuals of the awful occurring haunts a number of them who were present there. One of them was Simon Taufel, the five-time ICC Umpire of the Year. The veteran was one of the on-field umpires along with Steve Davis. Nadeem Ghauri, Ahsan Raza were the other umpires with Chris Broad as the match referee.

For Taufel, the occurring has imprinted a scar on his mind, something which he is finding tough to get rid of. It has affected him to such an extent that even the sound of a spoon, hitting the floor, makes him nervous to some extent. The 48-year-old Taufel narrated the shambolic incident outside the Gaddafi Stadium and his thoughts in his recently released book, ‘Finding the Gaps’.

We were given repeated assurance about security, says Simon Taufel

“Since that day, loud noises and sudden bangs make us jumpy and at breakfast that morning, the sound of a spoon hitting the floor almost caused us to lie flat on the floor again. I thought it might take us some time to work through this disaster and I was not even sure if we would be able to put it entirely behind us,” Taufel was quoted as saying.

“Even today, fireworks and the sound of any guns, or similar loud sounds, are somewhat uncomfortable,” Simon Taufel stated.

“Before this series, Steve, Chris and I had been quite aware of the potential security issues within Pakistan, and we went to extra ordinary lengths to communicate with the ICC on these matters and we were given repeated assurance,” the legendary umpire mentioned.

During the attack, the likes of Kumar Sangakkara, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera were injured. As per Taufel, talks of shifting the venue for the second Test to Karachi also did the rounds. Unfortunately, Lahore hosted the game and the match witnessed one of the darkest phases in Pakistan cricket.

“The first Test in Karachi came and went without incident, but as we were finishing it, there were murmurs about possible issues in Lahore and there were talks of holding the next Test match also in Karachi,” he added.

Back in 2017, the Lankans played a one-off T20I in Lahore, but most of their star players backed out citing security concerns. Around two months ago, Sri Lanka again came to Pakistan, this time for a full-fledged three-match T20I series. Yet again, some prominent Lankan players pulled out of the tour.

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