IPL 2021: Australian cricketers stranded with Australia cancelling all flights from India

The involvement of the Australians in the Indian Premier League 2021 is now under doubt after Prime Minister Scott Morrison confirmed that the flights from the nation which are heavily affected by COVID-19 will now be suspended. It was revealed that the passenger flights from India will stay suspended until May 15. 

The decision was made during a National Security Committee meeting. A total of 30 Australians are involved in the cash-rich T20 league, which includes players, coaches, and broadcasters. For now, they will be stranded aboard until something new happens. The situation in India worsened with more than 3,20,000 new cases coming daily. 

Even though there will not be any passenger flights flying between Australia and India, there are repatriation flights being arranged for Australians. “We recognize that this has been a very significant outbreak in India. Today we agreed, in addition to the measures that I announced after the last National Cabinet meeting, to pause direct passenger flights between India and Australia until the 15th of May,” PM Morrison said and was quoted by Fox Sports. 

 No one can blame an Australian if he wants to stay in IPL or leave: Brett Lee

Three Australian players, Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson, and Andrew Tye have already returned home. There are 14 other players involved in the league. On the other hand, there are coaches like Michael Hussey, Simon Katich, Ricky Ponting while on the broadcasters’ list there are Brett Lee and Matthew Hayden. 

The IPL 2021 is set to end on May 30. This keeps the Aussies a little hopeful that flights may start running again after May 15. While speaking on Fox Cricket’s Road to The Ashes podcast, Brett Lee said that no Australian should be blamed for choosing to return home in these situations. 

“We don’t get to see the day-to-day stuff that’s happening outside the hotel,” he said. “Obviously it’s horrific what’s going with COVID-19. It’s a case-by-case situation where you can’t blame an Australian player if he wants to go home and get back to his family. And you also can’t blame an Australian player who wants to stay and play the rest of the IPL,” Lee added. 

However, Lee further said that all the Australian players and support staff are trying their best to make sure things keep going well. He said that everyone is trying to follow the protocols properly, so there is no breach and the tournament goes on comfortably. 

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