Whenever umpire Ahsan Raza looks at his scars from the deadly militant attack on Sri Lanka's cricket team in Lahore, 10 years ago on Sunday, he shudders.
Raza, 44, was lucky to survive the gun, grenade and rocket assault which changed not only his life, but also the landscape of cricket in Pakistan.
Raza, then a reserve umpire for the second Test, was on his way to the Gaddafi Stadium with other match officials when the team bus just a few yards ahead of them came under fire, killing eight police and bystanders and wounding six others.
Two bullets pierced his lungs and liver, and after emerging from a coma, it was nearly six months before Raza could walk again. "My wounds have healed but whenever I look at them I remember the gruesome incident," Raza told AFP.
"Whenever someone mentions that incident I request him not to remind me of that tragedy." The attack proved a heavy blow to cricket-loving Pakistan: international games were suspended in the country, and a decade later most foreign teams still refuse to tour.
With Pakistan playing their home series in the United Arab Emirates, the national cricket board estimates it has missed out on nearly $200 million in revenues. Even the Pakistan Super League, a star-studded Twenty20 tournament, is mainly played in the UAE although it is gradually inching back to Pakistan by holding more games there each year.
After the attack on the Sri Lankan team, it was six years before Pakistan hosted any international cricket when minnows Zimbabwe toured in 2015.
- Gradual return -
"To their credit PCB (Pakistan Cricket Board) has taken gradual steps and I am 100 percent confident that more foreign teams will come in the near future."
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