NEW DELHI: Even as Australia on Tuesday suspended all direct passenger flights from India with immediate effect until May 15 due to the “very significant” spike in COVID-19 cases, the BCCI assured foreign players it would do everything to ensure those competing in the IPL reach their respective countries seamlessly once the tournament ends.
The assurances came a day after three Australians – Andrew Tye (Rajasthan Royals) and the duo of Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa (both Royal Challengers Bangalore) – withdrew from the tournament as the increasing uncertainty around how the Indian authorities’ failure to manage the country’s worst post-Independence health crisis became more apparent by the day.
“We understand that many of you are apprehensive about how you will get back home once the tournament concludes… We want to apprise you that you have nothing to worry about,” PTI quotes BCCI COO Hemang Amin as having said in a letter addressed to the players.
The letter further reads: “The BCCI will do everything to ensure that you reach your respective destinations seamlessly. The BCCI is monitoring the situation very closely and is working with the government authorities to make arrangements to get you home once the tournament concludes.
“Be rest assured that the tournament is not over for BCCI till each one of you has reached your home, safe and sound.
“As some of you have said, ‘if we can help distract people from all the troubles of recent times, even if it is for a short while, we have done a great job’. When you all walk out onto the field, you are bringing hope to millions of people who have tuned in.
“If, even for a minute, you can bring a smile on someone’s face, then you have done well. While you are professionals and will play to win, this time you are also playing for something much more important.”
Just how seamless remains to be seen though, in Australia at least and most likely in other countries as well.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday said cricketers competing in the IPL will have to make their “own arrangements” to return home after his country banned all flights from India in the wake of a deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic there.
“They have travelled there privately. This wasn’t part of an Australian tour. They’re under their own resources and they’ll be using those resources too, I’m sure, to see them return to Australia in accordance with their own arrangements,” Morrison was quoted as saying by The Guardian.
India on Tuesday officially registered 323,144 new coronavirus cases in a day, taking the total number of infections to 17,636,307 since the pandemic broke out in January 2020. While the single-day infection count is slightly less than Monday’s count, India has registered more than 300,000 cases for the sixth day in a row. With 2,771 deaths, the official toll has gone up to 197,894.
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