NZ players may travel with Team India to the UK for WTC final- NZ players’ union chief

New Zealand has banned flights from India from April 11- April 28.

Heath Mills, the NZ Cricket Players Association chief executive, has indicated that the New Zealand players currently participating in the ongoing IPL 2021 tournament, may travel to England for the ICC World Test Championship final between New Zealand and India, along with the Indian team.

He cited that the likes of Kane Williamson, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, and Kyle Jamieson cannot come back home and then depart for England due to strict quarantine protocols.

New Zealand has named a 20-member team for the two-match Test series in England starting on June 2 and the squad will be trimmed to 15 for the WTC final against India, starting on June 18 at Southampton. The players currently involved in IPL 2021 have been allowed to miss the England Tests due to their IPL commitment.

Mills said New Zealand Cricket has been in close contact with the players, their respective IPL teams, the BCCI, ICC, and also with the England and Wales Cricket Board.

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“They can't very well come home, do the two weeks isolation and then go to England, so they're going to have to be there (India) until the round-robin finishes, or the final series. Then we've got other players who are coming home - logistically there's not a lot of flights. It's not easy to sort out the logistics. We're working closely with NZ Cricket and they're in touch with the BCCI and the ICC," NZ Cricket Players Association chief executive Heath Mills was quoted as saying by stuff.co.nz.

Mills further said that the Kiwi players are anxious about the flight ban from India in the wake of the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases, but no one has desired to return home.

"There's no doubt they're certainly anxious about what is happening in India and what they're witnessing. Whilst they're anxious, they're ok. No one has indicated yet that they want to go home,” Mills said.

Mills said the players feel they are well looked after by their IPL franchises and safe in their bio-bubbles.

"There's four teams in a hotel and the hotel is locked down. The challenge is when they transfer from city to city, then they need to put on the PPE gear and that's when they're probably most at risk. The players are in the safest place in India, in the team bubbles, which is the most important thing from my perspective,” he added.

(PTI inputs)