Younis Khan walks past the bullet-ridden Sri Lankan team bus in Lahore.
Younis Khan the Pakistan captain, has said he would have retired from international cricket immediately had he been caught in the kind of terror attacks carried out on the Sri Lankan team in Lahore last month by militants.
Younis, in Dubai preparing to play against Australia next week, is due to brief an ICC board meeting with his account of the incident alongside his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahela Jayawardene and other match officials caught up in the attacks. The Pakistan team bus narrowly avoided getting caught in the crossfire, having left the team hotel five minutes later than the Sri Lankan bus and then turned around once the news reached them.
The attacks have forced Pakistan's players to come to terms with even greater security around them. Security was intense when the team practiced at the Gaddafi Stadium before leaving for Dubai, with reports claiming that hundreds of security personnel guarded the squad as they walked barely 200 meters from the National Cricket Academy (NCA) to the stadium itself.
Similar levels of protection have been provided to the team in Dubai, both at the ground and the hotel where access is restricted. "When we left for the airport to fly out to Dubai at 2am in the morning there was just so much security around us, it was unbelievable," Younis told Cricinfo.
"We were on the bus and it was on everyone's minds, so much security for us, in our own country. There was talk among the players that maybe we should have travelled separately," he said. "I asked Misbah [ul-Haq] what he would do if something like that [attack] happened to us and he didn't really know. If something like that did happen, in our own country, on us, I would retire from cricket the very next day. How can someone do it to anyone, let alone their own countrymen?"
The players - young, old, experienced and inexperienced alike - have all been deeply impacted by the incident, says Younis. "All of us were just shocked that something like this can happen. We have talked about it…you know you read about these unfortunate things in papers or see it on TV, but when it happens so close to you, to sportsmen it is difficult to fully comprehend.
"To take someone's life, or try and take it, is the lowest thing anyone can do and to try and do it to people who are considered heroes around the world, is just impossible to grasp," he said.
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