The participation of Australian cricketers in the ongoing IPL 2021 is in jeopardy after Australia 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.
Meanwhile, 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 with the death toll soaring high with each passing day.
Even though there will not be any passenger flights flying between Australia and India, there are repatriation flights being arranged for Australians. The decision was made during a National Security Committee meeting.
“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 to Fox Sports.
Australians should not be blamed for returning – Brett Lee
Meanwhile, Rajasthan Royals fast bowler Andrew Tye has already pulled out of IPL 2021 and travelled back to Australia. Two more cricketers from Royal Challengers Bangalore – Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson have pulled out of the tournament. However, they are still stranded in Mumbai and are awaiting a flight to Australia, a report in Cricbuzz suggests.
Meanwhile 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.