Jay Shah books commercial flights for West Indies and South Africa after charter flight chaos

The West Indies National Cricket Team and South Africa National Cricket Team will finally return to their respective nations after being stranded for nearly a week in Kolkata. The two teams that played their final games in Kolkata (West Indies in Super 8s on March 1 and South Africa on March 4 in the semi-final were stranded.

However, now the International Cricket Council (ICC) has arranged for special flights for both teams. The ICC on Tuesday arranged separate commercial flights for the delayed West Indies and South Africa teams after their charter flight from Kolkata was cancelled due to logistical issues.

West Indies and South Africa players still stuck in Kolkata

There were problems caused by International airspace restrictions across parts of West Asia due to the ongoing war between the USA and Iran. This warfare has created havoc as many airlines have had to cancel their flights and also avoid routes through the Gulf region, due to the safety of the passengers.

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ICC’s official travel partner is Emirates, and their operations are closed, and flights are cancelled as the Dubai airport has also been shut down due to the war situation. All flights that are scheduled to take off from India towards the Caribbean and Africa were cancelled.

All the West Indies and South African players have been booked- ICC Source

Thus, ICC had to make an effort to explore alternative routes and charter arrangements. After the flights being booked for both the Windies and the Proteas side an ICC source updated PTI about the development.

The source said, "All the West Indies and South African players have been booked on individual commercial airline flights. Obviously, all can't be booked on same airlines but ICC has taken care of individual bookings. ICC chairman Jay Shah has personally spoken and assured players of a safe journey back home."

As per reports from the Cricket Association of Bengal official, both teams were due to depart Kolkata on a joint charter flight to Johannesburg on Tuesday afternoon. From there The West Indies team set their way to Antigua. The flight, however, was cancelled hours before the scheduled departure due to "logistical issues."

"As per a latest development on Tuesday afternoon the ‘chartered flight was cancelled and no further information regarding this is received', read a message communicated to the West Indies and South Africa teams.

"Due to logistical issues the chartered flight may have been cancelled at the last minute so now maximum players are making their own arrangements," the local official told PTI.

West Indies players will stay back?

Previously, Windies head coach Darren Sammy expressed his concern and took to social media and posted that he "just wanna go home". Similarly, a few Windies players also expressed their thoughts on being stranded.

Zimbabwe players, who were also stranded in India for the same reason, have started returning home in stages after the ICC provided alternative travel routes through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. However, some of the West Indies players will stay back to join their respective IPL franchises. The IPL is set to begin on 28th March.

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