Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) chief Todd Greenberg said that a plan to bring back Australian players from the IPL 2021 after its completion via a chartered flight is under consideration.
This came after sports minister Richard Colbeck made it clear that such a move has not yet been cleared by the government Down Under.
Greenberg also mentioned that Cricket Australia (CA) is in talks with the IPL franchise owners on this arrangement but conceded that it will not be a simple thing.
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“That’s one of the conversations we’re having with Cricket Australia at the moment about whether or not that’s something that’s available to us. We can also work with all the owners of the Premier League franchises who are effectively contracting the players. There’s certainly a conversation to be had about that.
They’re not simple things to organize, as you’d imagine. If we can try to find a seamless approach to get them home safely that’s something between us and CA and our players that we’ll work on,” Greenberg said on 2GB radio as quoted by Sydney Morning Herald.
Any such chartered flight would require the approval of the Australian government and Colbeck said no decision has been taken on this matter as yet.
“There aren’t any decisions that have been made yet with respect to (approval for a charter flight for) the cricketers. One of the reasons for the pause was to give our hotel quarantine a little bit of space because of the load we’ve seen out of India,” Colbeck told ABC radio.
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The BCCI has already assured the foreign players that their safe return home will be its responsibility once the tournament ends on May 30.
The ACA chief, however, said that the players will not ask for any preferential treatment and jump the queue if and when the Australian government evacuates its citizens from India. About 9000 Australians are in India trying to return home.
“One thing I can tell you is our players are under no expectations to look for specific favors. There’s no free rides or any expectations from our players. What they are looking for is the right information so they can plan accordingly,” said Greenberg.
(PTI inputs)
