After commercial air travel was disrupted by the ongoing confrontation between the US, Israel, and Iran, the ICC arranged for chartered planes from England, South Africa, and the West Indies cricket teams to depart India over the weekend.
England, who lost to India in the second semi-final on Thursday, are anticipated to depart from Mumbai on Saturday night on a direct flight to London, according to a PTI report. The other two teams that are still in the nation even though their campaigns are over are South Africa and the West Indies.
South Africa’s campaign came to an end on Wednesday when they lost to New Zealand in the first semi-final of the T20 World Cup, while the Windies were eliminated when India thrashed them by five wickets at the Eden Gardens on Sunday.
Another charter flight will take South Africa and the West Indies together from Kolkata. Before the West Indies contingent travels to Antigua, the two sides are probably going to fly first to Johannesburg. The flight is anticipated to depart on Sunday, though the precise departure time has not yet been confirmed.
On Sunday, a portion of the South African team, which includes players Keshav Maharaj, Jason Smith, and George Linde as well as team management, will travel to New Zealand for a limited overs tour that starts on March 15.
After being stranded in Kolkata for over four days due to international airspace limitations in the Gulf region, Cricket West Indies revealed on Thursday that plans were underway for a charter flight to return the squad home.
The announcement was made just hours after Daren Sammy, the head coach of the West Indies, posted on social media that he “just wanna go home” due to the delay.
After the arrangement, he had posted “Got an update, that’s all wi wanted”.
