Bangladesh fans stoned the West Indies bus

Bangladesh fans stoned the West Indies bus on Friday after the home team crashed to a humiliating nine-wicket defeat in the cricket World Cup.

Two windows of the bus were smashed as it was leaving the Sher-e-Bangla stadium after the match in what police claimed was a case of mistaken identity.

“The fans thought it was the Bangladeshi team bus and they hurled stones at it,” Imtiaz Ahmed, deputy commissioner of police in Dhaka, told AFP.

“The window panes were shattered, but no one was injured.”

West Indian star Chris Gayle, a former national captain, had tweeted from the vehicle during the attack, claiming the players had been terrified.

“This is ridiculous. Damn. World Cup with so much security and this happens. Big joke. Trust me I am not keen here. Every player lay flat,” he wrote on his Twitter account.

He added: “This is some bullshit.....Bangladesh stoning our bus!!! Freaking glass Break!!! This is crap, can’t believe..what next, bullets!!!!”

Bangladesh Cricket Board president Mustafa Kamal apologised to the West Indies for the incident.

“We are sorry it happened,” Kamal told AFP. “We have already ordered an investigation and the police are working on it.

“There was enough security for the buses, the fans may have thought it was the Bangladesh bus. The stones were thrown from a long distance.

“It is nothing serious. No serious damage was done, but still we are very sorry this happened.”
Violence also broke out in the Dhaka University campus as angry students torched Bangladeshi team jerseys and placards after the home team’s comprehensive defeat, a top police official said.

“A crowd of around 3,000 gathered inside the campus. They were very angry and shouted slogans against the players,” Rezaul Karim, police chief of the university area, told AFP.
West Indies spokesman Philip Spooner, whose team were playing in Bangladesh for the first time since 2002, confirmed there were no injuries.

“We left the ground and on our way back to the hotel, a couple of stones did hit our window. Two windows were racked, but not shattered. Both teams are back at the hotel and are safe. Nobody is injured,” he said.

“Our manager (Richie Richardson) will notify the respective boards and the ICC (International Cricket Council). There is no panic, everybody is fine.”

Bangladesh, one of the tournament’s co-hosts along with India and Sri Lanka, had earlier slumped to a nine-wicket defeat to the West Indies in front of a 25,000 sell-out crowd.
They had been bowled out for their lowest ever one-day total of just 58 in 18.5 overs, with the West Indies cantering home in the 13th over of their innings with the match taking under two-and-a-half hours to complete.

Bangladesh had been expected to perform well in the event, especially in favourable home conditions. But two defeats in three games have dealt their hopes of making the quarter-finals a major blow.

Friday’s incident came just a day after the second anniversary of the deadly attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

That attack left seven Sri Lankan players injured and killed eight Pakistani people.
It also led to a suspension of all international cricket in Pakistan while the country’s rights as a co-host of the ongoing World Cup were also withdrawn. —AFP