Todd Greenberg, the chief government of the Australian Cricketers’ Association has suggested his players to do correct homework before signing up for T20 leagues internationally.
The Indian Premier League (IPL) 2021 season received postponed on Tuesday due to rising variety of Covid-19 instances and because of this, the Australian contingent that had come to India is now stranded and their solely hope of coming into Australia lies within the journey ban being lifted after May 15.
Last week, Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison had introduced a journey ban on passenger flights from India until May 15.
“I’m not sure it will create reticence in the future but it will ensure players do their due diligence before they sign agreements. The world is literally changing before our eyes particularly with Covid and on that side of the world, obviously, those cases are going up exponentially,” ESPNcricinfo quoted Greenberg as saying.
“We’re enjoying our freedoms here in Australia. It is a very different place over there. If anything it sends a message to players about making sure you do your homework before making any decisions,” he added.
There are 38 Australians who’re at the moment in India and the contigent is now probably to transfer both to the Maldives or Sri Lanka. After May 15, the contingent could then lastly transfer to Australia.
“I was at pains to point it out during the week, the public will see our best Australian cricketers as almost superheroes, they’re brilliant athletes, great cricketers, but they’re human beings, some of them are fathers and husbands and they’re under enormous amounts of stress. Some deal with it differently. This will probably be an experience they will never forget,” stated Greenberg.
“We will help them when they come home. Some will cope with it really well, others will need support and counselling and that’s what we’ll do. They signed up with their eyes wide open about some of the challenges and risks when they went in. What they didn’t expect was the borders to be closed. That created anxiety for them, just like it would create anxiety for the 9,000-odd Australians over there looking to come home. That’s a normal reaction for our players,” he added.
With the 14th version of the IPL postponed, Cricket Australia’s interim Chief Executive Officer Nick Hockley has stated that each association is being made to repatriate the Australian contingent as quickly as doable. Hockley went on to add that Sri Lanka and Maldives are the 2 locations which have been zeroed in on for the Australian contingent to transfer to from India before they return dwelling since direct flights from India to Australia have been stopped with an eye fixed on the second COVID-19 wave.
“We’re working on arrangements to repatriate all the players, the support staff, umpires, commentators as quickly and as safely as possible. 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. So the BCCI has been working on a range of options. 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,” he advised reporters on Wednesday.
