IPL-Bound Australia Players Could Travel To Sri Lanka Or Maldives After The Suspension Of The Tournament

With the Australian government suspending all the flights from India until at least the 15th of May, the Australian cricketers have been in a fix after the BCCI suspended IPL 2021 indefinitely. On Tuesday, the BCCI called off the tournament for an indefinite period after a cluster of COVID-19 cases within the bubble. India could host only 29 matches before postponing it.

With India battling a vicious second wave of COVID-19, the Australian government, similar to a handful of other countries, saw it fit to restrict flights from India. The sub-continent nation has been reporting more than 300000 infections since mid-April and there have been few or no signs of the outbreak slowing down. The Australian government has also remarked that people defying their orders could be jailed or have to pay a heavy fine.

Thus, such strict rules have caused worry amongst the Australians, who participated in the IPL. Renowned commentator Michael Slater slammed Prime Minister Scott Morrison for imposing such stringent guidelines. Nevertheless, Cricket Australia are in coordination with the BCCI to find ways to move the 38 Australians involved in IPL, including players, coaches, commentators, and officials from India.

Nick Hockley opines on the arrangements BCCI is working on to repatriate the Australian players to their country:

Cricket Australia interim CEO Nick Hockley speculated that Australian players could reach Sri Lanka or the Maldives and stay there till the travel ban gets removed. Hockley underlined that BCCI is doing their best to make arrangements so that all their countrymen could safely reach the nation.

“It is speculated that all the Australian players present in India can travel to Sri Lanka or the Maldives and can stay there till the travel ban is removed. The BCCI [Board of Control for Cricket in India] is working through arrangements to repatriate [the Australians] as quickly and safely as possible. What the BCCI is working to do is to move the entire cohort out of India where they will wait until it is possible to return to Australia,” Hockley told ABC News.

Also Read: IPL 2021 Suspended: I Saw It Coming & Suggested That Two Weeks Ago – Shoaib Akhtar