Mitchell starc said missiles hit a town 60km away: Alyssa Healy recalls night of terror during PBKS vs DC clash

Mitchell Starc's wife, Alyssa Healy, shared her experience on the called-off game between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals in the IPL 2025 due to tensions between India and Pakistan. She said that it was a surreal experience, and she was anxious and terrified at the same time.

The IPL 2025 game between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals, which took place at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium in Dharamsala, was marred by a war-type situation between India and Pakistan. The game was called off in between as massive panic arose there.

After 10.1 overs of the Punjab Kings' innings, the floodlights at the stadium turned off, and people were evacuated from the stands. This was because Pakistan launched an attack in the Pathankot region, which was around 80 km away from the Dharamsala Stadium.

SHORTS

View More

Your daily dose of cricket!

Loading...

Players of Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings, along with the support staff, were also taken back to their hotels

The players of Delhi Capitals and Punjab Kings, along with the support staff, were also taken back to their respective hotels. After that, there was a special train for both teams to bring them to Delhi as the flight operation was suspended.

Alyssa Healy, who was in the stands supporting Mitchell Starc, talked about how the situation unfolded. She said how one guy told them that they needed to go, and his face turned white. Narrating on the same, she said:

"It was a surreal experience. All of a sudden a couple of the light towers went out and we were just sitting there up the top waiting… we’re a large group of family and extra support staff and the next minute the guy who wrangles the group of us and gets us on the bus came up and his face was white," Healy said on The Willow Talk Podcast.

"He was like, ‘we need to go right now’. Then another guy came out and his face was white and he grabbed one of the children and said, ‘we need to leave right now’. We were like, ‘what’s going on?’ We weren’t told anything. We had no idea. Next minute we are being shuffled into this room which was like a holding pen. All the boys were in there."

Faf du Plessis didn’t even have shoes on - Alyssa Healy

Alyssa Healy said that the situation was such that Faf du Plessis didn’t even have shoes on. She narrated how she asked Mitchell Starc what was going on and the pacer told him about the missile attack. While calling the entire event madness, she said:

"Faf du Plessis didn’t even have shoes on. We were all just waiting there, looking stressed. I said to Mitch, ‘what’s going on?’ He said the town 60km away had just been smacked by some of the missiles so there was a complete blackout in the area. That’s why the lights were off because the Dharamsala stadium was like a beacon at that point in time. All of a sudden we’re crammed into vans and off we go back to the hotel. There was madness.

"We ended up going southwest towards the (Pakistan) border, which was a little bit terrifying. Mitch and I have played too much Call of Duty and we’re noticing all surface-to-missile sites that were just sitting there ready to go. They’re radar-operated systems that shoot missiles at aircraft. We saw a few of them on the way through in some small towns. Some peanut down in the village decides it’s a great idea to set off some fireworks in the middle of the day."

There was anxiety and terrified at the same time - Alyssa Healy

Alyssa Healy added that she saw the fireworks going up at the wedding, but she realised that it wasn't a good time. She added:

"I think everyone at lunch froze, turned around and was like, ‘oh my God!’ And then I could pinpoint, I could see the fireworks going up. I hope it was a wedding and I hope they have a beautiful marriage but that was just not good timing. There was anxiety and terrified at the same time, but I still feel like we would have been OK. We weren’t right in the firing line."

Also Read: Cheteshwar Pujara rejects Shubman Gill as India's new No.4 post-Virat Kohli's Test exit