Indian Premier League 2021: COVID exodus begins as Aussies make early exit

Delhi Capitals coach Ricky Ponting has broken his silence on the desperate COVID situation in India as the floodgates threaten to open at the IPL as Australian players look for an early exit.

West Australian bowler Andrew Tye has left the IPL and flown out of India.

Strains are beginning to tell on the Indian Premier League as the tragic scale of India’s COVID situation becomes apparent and players start to eye the exits.

Several players, including Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson, have already withdrawn, dealing a significant blow to the glitzy tournament which is taking place despite the country battling rising death rates.

Tye, who had been playing with the Rajasthan Royals franchise, flew from India to Doha on the weekend.

“From a player safety point of view OK we’re safe now, but is it going to stay safe,” he told SEN radio from Doha.

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“From an Indian point of view, how are these companies and franchises spending so much money on the game and be able to spend so much money on the IPL when there’s people not being able to be accepted into hospital?

“You feel for people out there with COVID and we’re still allowed to play cricket.

Tye said he’d had 11 days at home outside a bubble since August and the thought of being stuck in India and unable to return home to Perth had prompted him to get out.

“I just wanted to get home, dealing with the stress of it and bubble life has taken its toll,” he said.

He’s not the only one getting out. India star spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has left the tournament to care for his family.

MS Dhoni’s parents were admitted to hospital last week as the virus rages through almost every home in the country.

Australian players became anxious last week when the government announced a reduction on return flights from India as an aggressive new COVID variant became the leading source of infection in the country.

Tye said other Australians may follow suit.

“A lot of the guys have been in touch today once they realised I’ve left or was leaving,” he said.

“There is some concern and I’m not sure if I’ll be the only one, but it’s too early to say.”

Tye said he thought the IPL should continue as it gave comfort and distraction to people at a difficult time.

Adam Zampa has told Royal Challengers Bangalore that he will be returning to Australia.

Indian clinics report that more than a third of tests are returning positive. Officially the government is reporting the highest rate of infections of any country since the pandemic began (over 300,000 daily) and hospitals are so overwhelmed patients are dying on the footpath.

NSW all-rounder Daniel Sams tested positive to the virus on arrival in India and is believed to have caught the virus while on the plane.

Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers Association are co-ordinating to arrange a collective flight home for players, coaches and commentators.

Ricky Ponting says he is deeply concerned for the families of players in his IPL team.

Previously the 30-odd Australians at the tournament had commercial flights home paid for by their employers (teams and broadcasters).

The players are on their own time and not the responsibility of Cricket Australia, but the organisation has made it clear it will do everything to assist.

Commentators have been told not to discuss the pandemic during the broadcasts, but Delhi coach Ricky Ponting broke the silence and admitted it was impossible to ignore it with the Indians in the IPL bubble worried for their families outside it.

“This IPL, probably more than any other, has become more about what’s happening outside than what’s happening here,” Ponting said.

“We right now are probably the safest people in the country being in the bubbles that we are in. Continually I‘m asking the boys at breakfast every day how’s everything going on the outside, how’s family, (is) family safe, (is) family happy. That’s a really important thing.

“It is really important, we are thinking about the extended family, not just us, but we’ve got to be talking about what’s happening outside because it is quite grim.

“It is hard for the players to be away from their families. I can’t imagine … Even if I put myself in this situation, guys that live in Chennai are actually home now, but can’t see their families,” he said. “It must be incredibly difficult. So the more we can share these experiences, the better off we are.

Kane Richardson is returning to Australia and will be unavailable for remainder of the IPL.

“The people that aren‘t from India, the more that we can be talking to the locals about what they are going through the better off we are all going to be. We will just keep our fingers crossed. And hope people remain safe. That’s a big thing for me: the players are taking the best care of their families where they can from the outside.”

Royal Challengers Bangalore team members, including Glenn Maxwell and Virat Kohli, released a social media advertisement over the weekend encouraging people to adopt safe practices.

West Australian bowler Andrew Tye has left the IPL and flown out of India.

Commentators were permitted to repeat similar messages after every four overs, but there is debate about the tournament continuing.

Many argue that the entertainment is needed in such a terrible time and there is a suggestion that infection rates are reduced by people staying home in the evening to watch the matches.

The New India Express and Morning Standard newspapers slapped a ban on coverage of the tournament, arguing it was inappropriate at this time.

“We find it incongruous that the festival of cricket is on in India with layers of bio bubble creating protection,” it said in an editorial. “This is commercialism gone crass.”

If the IPL continues, as it seems it will, the tournament will conclude at the end of May and players returning will have to complete two weeks of quarantine in Australia.

There is a suggestion they may have to complete another brief period of quarantine before joining the charter flight (possibly in the Middle East). Some countries in that region have banned flights from India.

Players will not have much time at home with the white ball squad before leaving for three T20s and three ODIs in the West Indies in late June.

Cricket Australia is considering continuing on to play a series against Bangladesh immediately after the Caribbean fixtures.

That proposal has alarmed organisers of The Hundred in England, who fear losing the nine Australians due to play that tournament from July 22.

Originally published as Indian Premier League 2021: COVID exodus begins as Aussies make early exit