Arranging for chartered flights, taking permissions before takeoffs to various international countries has been a nightmare for CEOs, logistical managers of various franchises.
The aftermath of the postponement of the Indian Premier League 2021 halfway, after the virus entered the ‘secure bio-bubble’ and affected several players, staff, and coaches has created a flutter in the BCCI and IPL franchises. Making sure all players, especially international reach home without any hurdles, the BCCI staring at losses up to 2000 crore, according to President Sourav Ganguly are some of the challenges in front of the cash-rich league.
Tentatively, the BCCI is looking at a September window to complete the remaining 31 games of the season. Although no venue has been finalized, England, Sri Lanka, and UAE are considered the front-runners, subject to the COVID situation, of course. With a packed international schedule ahead, especially a T20 World Cup coming up, it’ll be an arduous task for the cricketing body to pull this off in the coming months.
“A September window is being considered. By then the England-India series would be over and the foreign players would be ready for the T20 World Cup. That small window is being explored,” said a franchise official who is in know, to Cricbuzz.
Also Read: What Happened To The Foreign Aid Sent To India To Fight Covid Battle???
“There has got to be a lot of shuffling. Only a day has passed since we suspended the IPL. We have to speak to other boards and see if a window can be made available before the T20 World Cup. Lots of things are involved and we will slowly start working on them.” BCCI President Sourav Ganguly said
Meanwhile, teams are struggling to send their overseas players back. Arranging for chartered flights, taking permissions before takeoffs to various international countries has been a nightmare. One of the main issues accentuating the problem further is 4 out of the 8 teams have COVID positive players and can’t undertake travel until they’ve fully recovered.
IPL franchise Mumbai Indians are sending all their overseas players by their own charter flights and they are believed to have offered players from other franchises join them. With no UK player in their camp, no MI flight was bound for London, but definitely to other countries – South Africa, New Zealand, and the Caribbean.
Australian players and support staff members will fly to Maldives on a special charter. MI has made arrangements for their 14 days quarantine stay in Maldives before flying them back to Australia.
— Mumbai Indians (@mipaltan) May 6, 2021
The MI players destined for New Zealand — Trent Boult, Adam Milne, James Neesham, Shane Bond, etc — are likely to be joined by a few Kiwis from other teams while the flight for the Caribbean is being planned to fly via Johannesburg where it will off-load its South African players, reported Cricfit.
Meanwhile, the BCCI and Cricket Australia have decided on arranging a chartered flight for 40 Australians to return from India back to their country. It includes players and coaching staff from different franchises. It’s important to note that Australia has imposed a travel ban from India, but officials are working overtime to get the permissions in place.
Two other charter flights were to leave Ahmedabad on Tuesday, where four teams were staying. One was for the South cities – Chennai and Bangalore – while another was to leave for Delhi. These flights were carrying Indian domestic players.
Meanwhile, eight of the 11 England players who played in then IPL reached the UK on Wednesday. The remaining three Eoin Morgan, Chris Jordan, and Dawid Malan were to reach in the next 48 hours.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
