Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley confirms plans to move Australia's IPL cohort out of India following suspension of league; Mike Hussey has tested positive for coronavirus; several England players have already left India
Wednesday 5 May 2021 08:59, UK
India's cricket board (BCCI) will help to move Australia's entire Indian Premier League cohort to the Maldives or Sri Lanka in the coming days, Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley has confirmed.
Hockley also said former Australian Test international Mike Hussey, who is a batting coach for the Chennai Super Kings, has tested positive for coronavirus.
The IPL was suspended indefinitely on Tuesday due to the escalating COVID-19 health crisis in India as three teams have now confirmed COVID-19 cases, with a fourth team, Sunrisers Hyderabad, reported to have a positive test returned by wicketkeeper-batsman Wriddhiman Saha.
The Australian government had barred its own citizens from returning home within 14 days of being in India, leaving dozens of its IPL players, coaches and officials stranded.
England players Sam Billings, Jos Buttler and Jonny Bairstow have managed to secure flights back to the UK but will now have to comply with quarantine rules.
"So what we're working to do and what the BCCI are working to do, and they've been incredibly cooperative, is working to move the entire cohort out of India," Hockley told reporters in Sydney.
"That's now narrowed down to the Maldives and Sri Lanka. The BCCI are working through the final details of that at the moment and we expect that movement will happen in the next two to three days."
The ban on travellers from India by Australia had added "anxiety" for its cricketers after the Indian Premier League's (IPL) suspension, Australia vice-captain Pat Cummins said.
Australia fast bowler Cummins is isolating in an Ahmedabad hotel after two of his Kolkata Knight Riders team-mates contracted COVID-19 before organisers pulled the plug on the tournament on Tuesday.
Cummins said Australia's travel ban, which will be reviewed on May 15, had come as a "little bit" of a shock.
"Obviously no one has experienced that before," he told Australian broadcaster Fox Sports.
"It added a bit of anxiety for a few of the Aussies over here. But we signed up to play the tournament until the start of June.
"Hopefully it all re-opens on May 15 and we'll be able to get back."
