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One of the darkest days in cricketing history took place on March 3, 2009 when a bus carrying members of the Sri Lankan team was attacked by the terrorists in Lahore, Pakistan. Sri Lanka were on a tour to Pakistan in 2009 to play three ODIs and two Test matches, scheduled to be played from January 20 to March 5. Both the teams were playing the second and the final Test of the tour and the Sri Lanka side were on their way to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on the morning of the third day of the Test match.
On the way to the stadium, few of the masked terrorists attacked the Sri Lankan team bus where the five cricketers including skipper Kumar Sangakkara, his deputy, Mahela Jayawardene, Ajantha Mendis, Thilan Samaraweera and Tharanga Paravitarana were injured minorly. However, in an unfortunate incident, two civilians and six security officials also lost their lives. This was the first time after the 1972 Olympics, where the players were specifically targeted. During the Olympics in Munich in 1972, Palestinian terrorists killed 11 Israeli athletes.
Pakistan couldn’t host international cricket match for a decade after 2009 terror attack
With the international cricketers getting attacked openly, Pakistan's status as an international cricketing venue was left in question. Due to this horrific incident, Pakistan couldn’t host any international cricket matches for around 10 years. In these 10 years, Pakistan used to play their home matches in Dubai and any team coming to play against Pakistan had to go to Dubai. However, teams like Zimbabwe, Afghanistan and Kenya toured the country in between but their matches weren’t given the international status. However, 2017 Pakistan Super League was also played in the country along with Pakistan hosting the World XI in the same year.
After 10 years, international cricket was finally back in Pakistan in 2019. It was the Sri Lankan team again that toured Pakistan for a Test series. Since then, Pakistan has been hosting international matches and also got the hosting rights for the Champions Trophy 2025, hosting an ICC event after 29 years.
