After few cricketers from various franchises, umpire Nitin Menon and Paul Reiffel have pulled out of the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL). The decision comes in the wake of severe crisis prevailing in the country due to coronavirus which has taken millions of lives.

Nitin Menon and Australian Paul Reiffel, both part of ICC’s Elite Panel of Umpires, have withdrawn from the IPL due to personal reasons. Incidentally, Menon flew home to Indore after his mother and wife tested positive for the virus. On the other hand, Reiffel went back a few days ago due to anxiety about the Australian government not allowing flights from India.

Nitin Menon, Paul Reiffel Pull Out Of IPL 2021

“Nitin has a small child to look after as his mother and wife have tested positive while Reiffel informed BCCI that he fears not being able to go home due to the Australian government’s decision banning all flights from India. The BCCI already had several local umpires as back-up so they will be officiating in games in which Menon and Reiffel were scheduled to stand,” a BCCI official confirmed to The Indian Express.

Meanwhile, a couple of days back Andrew Tye, Kane Richardson, Adam Zampa, and Ravichandran Ashwin pulled out of IPL 2021. On the other hand, Liam Livingstone withdrew his name citing bubble fatigue. If rumours are to believed, a couple of more Aussie cricketers are considering pulling out of the tournament in the wake of the Australian government sealing their borders until May 15 due to the second spike in COVID19.

Nitin Menon and Paul Reiffel are first two match officials to pull out of the league midway. The BCCI was expecting another Australian umpire, Rod Tucker to fly to India for IPL but he too has informed the board that he won’t be making it to the sub-continent due to personal reasons.