KABUL: In a shocking incident Afghanistan cricketer Shapoor Zadran was attacked by a group of unidentified gunmen, who opened fire at the vehicle he was travelling in along with his brother.

Nobody was hurt in the incident that happened on Saturday night in Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul, while the attackers managed to escape the scene after their futile attempt.

Zadran, a left-arm paceman, is one of Afghanistan’s most accomplished cricketers on the international circuit and attained cult status when he hit the winning runs against Scotland during their 2015 World Cup encounter in the New Zealand city of Nelson, thus giving his side their first ever victory at a major ICC tournament.

Though the motive of the attack remains unclear, it is a shocking incident that has brought back memories of the one witnessed in Pakistan in 2009 when terrorists attacked the team bus of the visiting Sri Lankan team.

According to Khaama Press, the Afghanistan News agency who broke the news, it is not the first time that an assassination attempt has been carried out against Zadran.

Speaking in the aftermath of the match, Zadran exuded confidence that cricket would not remain under any harm in war-torn Afghanistan with even the Taliban in support of the sport.

“Taliban-like cricket, I am a cricketer,” declared Shapoor Zadran in his brand of English at the time. “Taliban no attack cricketer.”

Though it is unclear now as to who attacked Zadran, it is a big relief to know that Zadran, who has played 39 One-day Internationals and 27 Twenty20 Internationals for his country, as well as his brother, survived the attack without any injuries.

No official confirmation or details regarding the attack has been made yet with the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB) is yet to release a statement on the matter.

It is being reported that Zadran was heading to his residence when the incident took place.

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2017