It has been four days since the West Indies cricket team remains stranded in Kolkata after being eliminated for the T20 World Cup 2026. Their head coach Daren Sammy took to X and made a plea, saying “I just wanna ho home”.
He followed it up with another post, saying, “At least an update, tell us something. Today, tmw, next week. It’s been five days.”
West Indies are one of the teams stranded in India due to shutdown of airspace in the Middle East region. According to media reports, ICC had informed West Indies that they would fly out of India mid-week on a charter flight to London. However, no specific date was given, the reports added. The West Indies squad are currently in Kolkata where they lost to India in a Super Eight match on March 1.
With the crisis escalating and the usual transit routes remaining closed, ICC is facing a big challenge of arranging return flights for stranded teams. Although, on Wednesday, there was some good news for Zimbabwe with their first batch of squad members leaving from Delhi.
Zimbabwe played their last match at the T20 World Cup 2026 on March 1 in Delhi, where they lost to South Africa.
“Zimbabwe Cricket confirms that the Zimbabwe senior men’s team participating in the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2026 are on their way home from India after the International Cricket Council secured alternative travel arrangements following recent transit disruptions,” Zimbabwe Cricket said in a statement on Wednesday. “Due to flight availability and revised routing, the squad will return to Harare in batches.
“Zimbabwe’s original travel route was via Dubai on an Emirates flight but it had to be altered. It has been learnt that Zimbabwe are now travelling to Harare via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.”
South Africa were eliminated from the tournament on Wednesday after losing to New Zealand in the first semifinal. Now, they have to wait for their schedule and confirmation from the ICC as in when they would be returning home. If England lose to India in the second semifinal on Thursday, their travel plans also needs to be worked out, followed by New Zealand’s after the final on Sunday.
