West Indies team bus attacked by angry fans

The West Indies team bus came under attack from angry Bangladesh fans while it was leaving the Sher-e-Bangla stadium in Mirpur on Friday evening.

The team was on its way back to the hotel at about 6.30 pm local time soon after a compelling nine-wicket victory over the hosts. There was a power failure and the area was plunged into darkness when the incident happened. The fans mistook the bus carrying the Bangladesh team, informed the local police chief. No player was injured in the incident but the window panes of the bus were cracked.

West Indies batsman Chris Gayle was, however, rather disturbed by the attack and immediately tweeted saying, “This is ridiculous!!! Damn!!! World Cup with so much security and this happens. Big joke. Trust me I’m not keen here. Every player lay flat!!!”

The West Indies team media manager Philip Spooner later informed that all the team members were safe. “We left the ground, on our way back to the hotel, a couple of stones did hit our window. Two windows were cracked, but not shattered. Both the teams are now back to the hotel and are safe.

“Everything is fine, everybody is safe. Nobody is injured, no one is hurt. Our manager will notify the respective boards and the ICC. He has spoken to the team and we will leave on Saturday. There is no panic, everybody is fine,” Spooner wrote. “They thought that it was the Bangladesh team bus and hurled stones at it,” said Imtiaz Ahmad, Mirpur’s deputy police commissioner and chief of security.

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Mustafa Kamal apologized saying, “It is unfortunate. There was sufficient security, yet it happened. We are very sorry.”

The BCB chief further said that the bus came under the attack soon after it moved out of the security ring of the police outside the stadium. “The stones were flung from afar and six of them hit the windows of the bus,” said Kamal.

Spooner, however, said that only two stones hit the windows. The West Indies team will leave for India where they play Ireland in Chandigarh on March 11.

There were incidents of violence, elsewhere too, as fans were disgusted by the home team’s poor display. A bus was torched at the Dhaka University (about 10 kms from the stadium) as students watching the match on a giant television screen lost their cool.

Shakib’s house stoned

DHAKA: The angst of the Bangladeshi fans continued till late in the night here in Dhaka with the team captain Shakib Al Hasan’s house too being targeted. Irate fans attacked Shakib’s residence in Keshabmur area of Magura, around 100km southwest of the capital. (Time of India)