'I never thought I would survive 2009 terror attack on Lanka team,' says Samaraweera

Colombo, Aug 27 : Sri Lankan batsman Thilan Samaraweera reckons that he is incredibly fortunate to have survived the terrorist attack on his team during the 2009 tour of Pakistan. 

Eight people were killed in the attack and seven Sri Lankan cricketers were among the injured as bullets, rockets and grenades were fired at the bus, which was making its way to the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore for the third day of the second Test of that series.

Samaraweera was seriously wounded after being shot in the leg.

The 34-year-old was told that he would likely be dead or paralysed had he been struck in a slightly different location in the leg.

“At that time, I never thought I would survive. That is the worst scenario for a sportsman. After the operation, the doctors said this is the luckiest bullet because if it had hit the bone, I would never have played cricket,” Samaraweera told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“If it had hit the nerve, I was paralysed, that’s the doctors’ opinion. But luckily it missed both,” he added.

He further said that the incident completely changed his life.

“Mentally, I’m really strong after that. I thought I would struggle with my cricket after this injury, but I had one injury since - broken tendons in my leg - and I recovered really well from that, and now everything is really good,” Samaraweera said.