. `` Then I saw Tharanga Paranavitana get up and say ` I 've been shot ' and then he collapsed on the seat . I really thought he was seriously hurt or even dead . '' Read profiles of the wounded players '' Describing the initial moments of the ambush , Sri Lanka coach Trevor Bayliss said there had been an explosion `` which someone said later was a rocket launcher that missed the bus and went over the top and hit somewhere in front of us . '' Watch footage of the gunmen staging their attack '' He said two cars then pulled up in front of the convoy , blocking its path . Gunmen jumped out of the cars and started firing , sending bullets ripping through the bus . `` By that stage everyone was on the ground , '' Baylis told CNN . `` Surprisingly it was very calm . There was not a lot we could do except keep low as possible and hope for the best . Every now and then someone would just yell out and say ` I 'm hit . ' '' Watch Bayliss talk about his experience '' Sangakkara
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Sri Lankan cricketers have described for the first time how they feared some of their teammates had been killed during a deadly attack on the team bus by gunmen in Pakistan -- and paid tribute to the driver of the bus for saving their lives . Thilan Samaraweera is due to undergo surgery to have a bullet removed from his leg . Six police officers and a driver were killed in the ambush by around a dozen attackers armed with automatic weapons as the players made their way to Lahore 's cricket stadium early Tuesday . Two players , Tharanga Paranavitana and Thilan Samaraweera , suffered gunshot wounds to the chest and leg respectively while six others suffered shrapnel wounds . But vice-captain Kumar Sangakkara told CNN he believed Paranavitana had been killed when he collapsed after being shot . `` I was lying on the ground . I heard Thilan -LRB- Samaraweera -RRB- groan and I heard Tharanga Paranavitana say something . I turned around and a bullet whizzed past my head and hit the seat in front of me . And then I got hit in the shoulder by shrapnel , '' Sangakkara said