Because of Taijul, Bangladesh cricketers survived the Christchurch terror attack

New Zealand is known as the land of peace. But a tragic incident happened there last year. Two consecutive mass shootings occurred at Al-Noor Mosque in Christchurch on 15th March 2019 which killed 51 people.

Bangladesh national cricket team narrowly escaped from the massacre. They were heading to Al-Noor Mosque for their Friday prayer. Had they reached the spot a couple of minutes earlier, it would've been all over.

Tamim Iqbal, the Bangladesh opener, said that the team was saved because of Taijul Islam. Taijul was playing football with Mushfiqur Rahim. That's why the players' journey to the mosque was delayed.

Coronavirus has brought life to a standstill. During this crisis, Tamim Iqbal has been doing some live sessions on Facebook with cricketers to keep the fans entertained. Mominul Haque, Soumya Sarkar, Liton Das, and Taijul Islam joined the conversation on Saturday. That tragic incident of Christchurch came up in the discussion.

As soon as Taijul joined the conversation, Tamim Iqbal said, "If Taijul was not up to mischief that day, none of us except Liton Das would be alive today. Taijul's specialty is that he never wants to lose (about the football match with Mushfiqur)."

"If we had reached two minutes before, we would've been shot dead. Taijul was playing one-to-one football with Mushfiqur. That's why we were 3-4 minutes late. We were saved because of Taijul," Tamim added.

Remembering the massacre, Taijul Islam said, "First of all, thanks to Almighty Allah for saving us that day. You all know how determined I am to win. I had to win the contest that day at any cost."

The third test match was canceled immediately and Bangladesh team came back home shortly after that.