You are so brave, were the words of MS Dhoni for Khaleel who saved Sri Lanka team in 2009

The former Indian captain MS Dhoni had hailed the bravery of Meher Muhammad Khaleel for saving the Sri Lankan players during the terror attack in 2009. Khaleel was driving their team bus to Gaddafi Stadium when they were attacked by the militants. But he didn’t perturb and safely drove them to the destination after which the players left the country soon. But the incident changed the life of Khaleel completely and the world, especially the people of Sri Lanka and Pakistan hailed him as the hero.

He had driven the Zimbabwe cricket team in 2015 when an attempt was made by Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) to break the hiatus of International cricket in the country. Also recently, he drove the World XI side to the stadium as well. Now he is waiting for the Sri Lankan team to arrive and wants to serve them like they would feel at home. He has also appealed the Indian team to visit the country and assured them full security.

They are my brothers

In an interview to Indian Express, Khaleel revealed that he had met Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni for a brief period in South Africa and both had praised him for saving the lives of the cricketers. “I saw MS Dhoni and Suresh Raina at that time (in South Africa). Raina spoke very warmly and Dhoni said, ‘you are so brave, you saved them,’ and I told him, ‘mere bhi bhai hain voh Sri Lankans, ek bhai ke liye jaan dene ko taiyaar hai’ (they are my brothers as well, I can give my life to save them),” he said.

Sri Lanka Cricket (SLC) agreed to travel Pakistan for the third and final T20I of the 3-match series on Monday night. Though the players have shown their reluctance to tour the board is confident of convincing them in the upcoming days. The match is scheduled to be played on October 29 in Lahore.