New Delhi: Three people including a security personnel lost their lives and seven got injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a check post leading to the Kabul International Cricket Stadium in Afghanistan during a Shpageeza Cricket League match on Wednesday.
The cricketers were evacuated safely and the match was called off immediately after the blast.
The explosion took place at around 3.45 pm local time. Initial reports suggested that the blast took place near the entrance of the stadium but it was later on clarified that it was at a security checkpoint leading to the stadium, reported Tolo News.
Shpageeza Cricket League is Afghanistan Cricket Board’s (ACB) very own T20 league moulded in the form of IPL. The inaugural edition of the league kicked off on Monday.
The news of the explosion comes at a time when the ACB had advertised for the head coach’s position of the Afghanistan cricket team, which recently got a Test status from ICC.
One of the chief conditions for the applicants was that they had to report to Afghan capital Kabul, where the blast took place, unlike previous occasions when the coach operated from outside the country.
Former Indian cricketer Lachand Rajput was the coach of Afghanistan before he decided to step down in June.