NEW DELHI, May 5: The Englishmen were the first ones out with eight of them landing in London, while the Australians awaited an escape to Maldives as IPL’s foreign recruits charted their way back home assisted by the BCCI on Wednesday.
Jos Buttler, Jonny Bairstow, Sam Curran, Tom Curran, Sam Billings, Chris Woakes, Moeen Ali and Jason Roy landed in London to begin a 10-day quarantine before heading to their respective homes.
England skipper Eoin Morgan, Dawid Malan and Chris Jordan are expected to board a flight to London within the next 48 hours.
“I can confirm that 8 of the 11 England players in India managed to get on a flight to Heathrow last night and have landed this morning,” an England and wales Cricket Board spokesperson told PTI.
“They will now quarantine in government approved hotels. The remaining three – Jordan, Malan, Morgan – should leave India within the next 48 hours,” he added.
The Australians, on the other hand, were still waiting to know when they can fly out to Maldives, where they will stay for a few days before flying home. The detour has been forced by the Australian government’s travel ban on India till May 15 because of the explosion of COVID-19 cases here.
Their Prime Minister Scott Morrison has refused to consider an exemption and Cricket Australia has also ruled out seeking one from the government.
“All Australians are assembling in Delhi and from there they will head to Maldives by a charter flight,” a franchise official told PTI.
CA’s interim chief Nick Hockley said the BCCI is helping in every possible way to ensure a smooth return for the 14 players, members of the coaching staff and commentators, who are in India right now.
IPL also featured cricketers from South Africa (11) and New Zealand (10) West Indians (9), Afghanistan (3) and Bangladesh (2).
New Zealand’s players association head Heath Mills told ESPNcricinfo that one group of Kiwis will head to the UK for an upcoming series but that would be after May 10, when the travel ban on flights from India is reconsidered there.
The ones headed for UK include Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, and Kyle Jamieson among others.
The ones who have to get back to New Zealand are Stephen Fleming, Brendon McCullum, Kyle Mills, Shane Bond, and Mike Hesson among others.
The IPL was suspended indefinitely on Tuesday after four players – Kolkata Knight Riders’ Varun Chakravarthy and Sandeep Warrier, SunRisers Hyderabad’s Wriddhiman Saha and Delhi Capitals’ Amit Mishra – tested positive for COVID-19 in the bio-bubble.
Also infected were Chennai Super King’s bowling coach L Balaji and batting coach Mike Hussey.
Hussey will stay in India to serve out his quarantine while others head back in the next few days. (PTI)
