Chris Broad's eyewitness account of Pakistan attacks

By Chris Broad
Former England batsman and ICC Test official

Terrorists targeted the Sri Lanka team in the centre of Lahore

Tuesday started like any other day. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

We got into the van to go to the ground, following the Sri Lanka team bus just as we had done in Karachi and for the first two days of this Test.

As per normal, the roads were all blocked off, lots of police were milling around and there was a convoy driving towards the Gaddafi Stadium.

When we got to the roundabout about half a mile away from the ground, I heard what I would describe as a popping sound.

It didn't seem to me as though it was rifle fire. The local [fourth] umpire Ehsan Raza said to me: "Get on the floor, get on the floor". So everyone in the back of the bus we were travelling in dived on the floor.

That is where we stayed for the next seven to 10 minutes, while everything went on around us.

I cannot remember how many times there were loud cracks as the bullets and the shrapnel hit the van.

It was not until afterwards, when we saw television pictures, that we realised we were the only van left in the vicinity.

The Sri Lankan team coach had somehow managed to drive away and get to the ground, but we were stuck there.

The terrorists had killed our driver so there was no way of us getting away from the scene and Ehsan had been shot. It was just an unbelievable situation.

606: DEBATE Chris Broad is a hero for putting himself in danger to save another human being in this tragic incident - thank you Chris livepak001

There were five of us in the back of the van, all lying on the floor listening to the crack of bullets going on around us, hitting the van. Every time you heard a crack you just thought "this bullet's for me".

They clearly targeted the drivers to try to get the bus stationary, and then we were sitting ducks.

But the Sri Lankan bus had gone from the scene and the terrorists felt they had missed their target.

Once they left and we felt there was a certain calm, somehow we managed to find another driver to get us out of there.

This is an unthinkable thing to have happened.

It is just a major tragedy for the world of sport and for Pakistan itself because I can't see cricket going back there, certainly in the near future.

Chris Broad was talking to BBC Radio Five Live