ISLAMABAD: Former Pakistan star cricketer Abdul Razzaq has quit the Shpageeza Cricket League in Kabul and is returning to Pakistan following a suicide blast near a cricket stadium there on Wednesday that killed three people. The blast occurred when there was a match under way between the Boost Defenders and MIS Ainak Knights. Razzaq, the only Pakistan player in the tournament playing for the team Amo Sharks, was quoted as saying Friday that he was at his hotel at the time of the blast. The hotel is just five minutes’ drive away from the stadium. “I was watching the other match on TV when I heard the loud blast. All the players were terrified,†he said. “I had immediately decided to return but the organisers of the tournament convinced me to play one more match,†he added. “I played a match on Thursday wherein I made 30 runs but did not bowl. I will return to Pakistan in a day or two.†The former Pakistan Test cricketer said immediately after the blast, many players from England, South Africa and Zimbabwe participating in the tournament held a meeting decided to leave Kabul. The attacker detonated the bomb after he was stopped at a security checkpoint as he walked towards the stadium. Five other people were also injured in the explosion. The league, Afghanistan’s domestic Twenty20 tournament, comprises six teams and features about two dozen overseas players from South Africa, West Indies, Zimbabwe, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Oman.
