The IPL 2025 clash between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Delhi Capitals (DC) in Dharamsala was called off midway on May 8 due to what the broadcasters called a "technical" issue.

However, IPL chairman Arun Dhumal later admitted in an interview that the stadium was evacuated due to a red alert issued in Jammu amidst India-Pakistan conflict at the border.

The game was halted after 10.1 overs, and the BCCI promptly arranged a special train to evacuate players, support staff members, commentators and broadcast crew from the region.

The turn of events triggered panic among the overseas players of all teams and many of them flew back home over the weekend.

Speaking on The Willow Talk podcast, Australia’s women’s team captain Alyssa Healy narrated the anxiety and stress the players had to face in Dharamsala.

“It was a surreal experience. All of a sudden a couple of the light towers went out and we were just sitting there up the top waiting… we’re a large group of family and extra support staff and the next minute the guy who wrangles the group of us and gets us on the bus came up and his face was white,” Healy said.

“He was like, ‘we need to go right now’. Then (another) guy came out and his face was white and he grabbed one of the children and said, ‘we need to leave right now’. We were like, ‘what’s going on?’ We weren’t told anything. We had no idea. Next minute we are being shuffled into this room which was like a holding pen. All the boys were in there. Faf (South African star Faf du Plessis) didn’t even have shoes on. We were all just waiting there looking stressed.

“I said to Mitch, ‘what’s going on?’ He said the town 60km away had just been smacked by some of the missiles so there was a complete blackout in the area. That’s why the lights were off because the Dharamsala stadium was like a beacon at that point in time.

“All of a sudden we’re crammed into vans and off we go back to the hotel. There was madness.”

Healy, the wife of DC pacer Mitchell Starc, further stated the road and train journey to Delhi on Friday (May 9) was ‘terrifying'.

“We ended up going southwest towards the (Pakistan) border, which was a little bit terrifying,” she was quoted as saying by The Australian.

“Mitch and I have played too much Call of Duty and we’re noticing all the (surface-to-missile) sites that were just sitting there ready to go. They’re radar-operated systems that shoot missiles at aircraft. (We saw) a few of them on the way through in some small towns.”

Healy also shared how the anxiety levels increased when firecrackers went off near the team hotel when the players were having lunch.

“Some peanut down in the village decides it’s a great idea to set off some fireworks in the middle of the day,” she recalled. “I think everyone at lunch (froze), turned around and was like, ‘oh my God!’ And then I could pinpoint, I could see the fireworks going up. I hope it was a wedding and I hope they have a beautiful marriage but that was just not good timing. There was anxiety and terrified at the same time, but I still feel like we would have been OK. We weren’t right in the firing line.”