Our terror background helped: Jayawardene

Sri Lanka captain Mahela Jayawardene said his team's immediate reaction in taking cover when terrorists attacked their team bus in Lahore to the situation in his country.

"We have been brought up in a background of terrorist activities," Jayawardene told reporters after the players returned home. "We are used to hearing, seeing these things -- firing, bombings. So we ducked under our seats when the firing began. It was like natural instinct," he was quoted as saying on Cricinfo website.

Sri Lanka has seen civil war with Tamil Tiger rebels who are fighting for a separate homeland. The Sri Lanka cricketers were on their way to the Gaddafi stadium to play third day of the second and final Test when their bus was attacked by at least a dozen armed terrorists.

Six players were injured in the incident while eight others, most of them security personnel, were killed. Jayawardene felt the attack on the team could have happened anywhere and should not blacklist Pakistan."We were not aware of security lapses. It's an unfortunate incident.

In hindsight, this could have happened anywhere in the world," he said. "In the future, I think all of us will step back and look at the bigger picture besides just touring abroad, taking into account our families," added. He said the players just wanted to spend time with their families now.

"I am a Buddhist and I think we have done some merit in our previous birth to escape with minor injuries."