On what was going to be a day to savour turned out to be a forgettable as well as embarrassing one for the cricket fans of Assam when the Australian team bus was attacked when it was on its way to the hotel following the first international game at Barsapara Cricket Stadium. The visitors had won the second T20 International against India by 8 wickets and were just leaving for their hotel when a rock was thrown at their team bus, shattering one of the windows.
Cricket Australia stated that no one was seated next to the window where the rock pierced the glass and fell inside the vehicle. The cricket board also reported that ‘while no one was injured, the Australian players were understandably shaken up by the incident’.
Australian players Aaron Finch and Adam Zampa had called the incident a scary one.
“Pretty scary having a rock thrown through the team bus window on the way back to the hotel!!,” said Finch in his tweet.
Pretty scary having a rock thrown through the team bus window on the way back to the hotel!! pic.twitter.com/LBBrksaDXI
— Aaron Finch (@AaronFinch5) October 10, 2017
“I had my headphones on quite loud and was looking towards the other side of the bus. I just heard this loud bang. It was a pretty scary five seconds or so,” Zampa said.
“Our security guard mentioned quite quickly that it might have been a rock. It was a pretty scary incident. You never want those things to happen. It was disappointing. I think everyone was alright. I think after what happened in Bangladesh with the rock as well, no one was too rattled. It was dealt with quite well, I think.
“Guwahati doesn’t get much cricket as it is so for one person to do that and to spoil it for the rest of the Indian fans, it’s pretty disappointing,” he added.
And with everyone criticising the fans for showing Guwahati as well as the whole country in bad light, the local fans, in a heartwarming gesture, turned up at the Australian team hotel with posters reading ‘Sorry Australia’.
I saw so many simple, happy faces in Guwahati. Guess the idiot who threw the stone on the Aussie team bus was hiding among them. Not done.
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) October 11, 2017
https://twitter.com/Rocco_2Point0/status/918154289767366657?
As per a local TV news channel report, fans also turned up at the city airport to apologise to the visitors.
https://twitter.com/thecyberbully13/status/918120212129632258?
Hats off to these IND cricket fans in the wake of the stone incident with the AUS team bus earlier in the week. Terrific gesture. All class. pic.twitter.com/VaDno0miat
— Glenn Mitchell (@MitchellGlenn) October 12, 2017