‘Cricket’s 9/11’ still haunts Chris Broad

A year has passed since he survived the Lahore terror attacks on Sri Lankan players but match referee Chris Broad on Wednesday said “cricket’s 9/11” would remain with him till he dies.

A year has passed since he survived the Lahore terror attacks on Sri Lankan players but match referee Chris Broad on Wednesday said “cricket’s 9/11” would remain with him till he dies.

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“The third of the third ‘09 will be with me until I die. It was an unhappy day, not only for me but for the rest of the playing control team over there and the Sri Lankan team. It will be cricket’s 9/11,” Broad said.

“Time is a great healer, I don’t think about it too often these days but the memories are always going to be with me. The memories are still extremely vivid and they are memories I wish I had never had,” he said.

Sri Lankan batsman Mahela Jayawardene does not even want to talk about it. “It is one year today since that incident and I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to revisit those horrifying moments.”

Ehsan Raza, who spent 26 days in hospital recovering from the attack and is now back to umpiring domestic matches, said, “It is an incident that can change anyone’s perception about life and that is what it has done for me. Now, I try to enjoy life as much as I can and be more thoughtful for those close to me.”