Bangladesh leg-spinner Rishad Hossain, who was playing for Lahore Qalandars in the Pakistan Super League (PSL) 2025, has shared frightening ordeal amid the escalated tension between the nation and India. He revealed that the overseas players were terrified as they tried to move out of Pakistan. The spinner opened up after making it to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) from where the players took connecting flights to reach their respective homes. Notably, the PSL 2025 was suspended hours after the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) decided to postpone the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 for a week.
“Foreign players like Sam Billings, Daryl Mitchell, Kushal Perera, David Wiese, Tom Curran… all of them were so frightened… Landing in Dubai, Mitchell told me that he would never go to Pakistan again, especially in this kind of scenario. Overall, they all were horrified,” Rishad told reporters after reaching Dubai.
While giving details of how frightened the overseas players were, the Bangladesh spinner said that England crickter Tom Curran even ended up crying and needed some people to console him during the challenging time.
“He (Tom Curran) went to the airport, but heard that the airport was closed. Then he started crying like a little child, that it took two or three people to handle him,” said Rishad.
Nahid Rana was another player from Bangladesh, who had participated in PSL 2025, being a part of the Peshawar Zalmi franchise. Rishad revealed he consoled his compatriotn and gave him hope.
“Nahid Rana was very quiet, maybe for the tension, as I understood. I kept telling him not to be tense and hopefully nothing would happen to us. Alhamdulillah we reached Dubai safely,” he said.
It was very genuine for the families of the players to be concerned with whatever was happeing during the escalated tensions between India and Pakistan.
“Alhamdulillah, we have reached Dubai after overcoming a crisis and I am feeling well now,” Rishad said.
“After landing in Dubai when we heard that a missile struck the airport 20 minutes after we took off from the airport. The news was scary as well as sorrowful and now after reaching Dubai we are feeling relieved.
“Whenever I go out to play, my family worries for me whether the situation is good or not and now when they heard the news about Pakistan – the bomb-blasts and the missile-strikes here and there- -naturally they were in tension.
“I personally tried to console them and tell them not to worry about me and they were quite normal,” he added.
For now, India and Pakistan have agreed on creasefire.
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