Kabir Ali will be for ever grateful for a last-minute change of plan after he came uncomfortably close to the terrorist attacks in Bombay.

Ali, the Worcestershire and England fast bowler, had been in the Taj Mahal Palace hotel on Wednesday afternoon and was due to have dinner there that night. Instead, he went to the cinema and, running late for dinner, was lucky to escape the carnage.

“We were having coffee there in the afternoon and were due back for dinner later,” Ali, 28, said from Bombay last night. “I should have been there by 9 o’clock, about half an hour before the shooting started. I don’t really know why I changed my mind. For some reason, something told me not to go and I went to the cinema instead. I should have been at the hotel.

“I started watching the film, but it soon became obvious something was wrong. It was a really good Bollywood film but people kept leaving. Then I received a text message telling me what was happening and I joined those trying to get out.

“There was panic outside. At first I thought there were fireworks going off in the next street, but then it hit home. There were sirens and bangs and people running. It was chaos.

“I just want to get home now. I do feel shaken, but my thoughts are with all the people who were just going about their lives normally who haven’t been as lucky as me.”

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Original Article:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article5248270.ece

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