The Indian cricket team is reportedly set to depart from Barbados on a special flight arranged by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) due to disruptions caused by Hurricane Beryl. The team has been stranded in Barbados since their T20 World Cup 2024 victory on June 29 in Bridgetown. The hurricane intensified to a category 4 storm on July 1, causing significant delays.
According to a report by India Today's Vikrant Gupta, the team is scheduled to leave Barbados at 6:00 PM local time on Tuesday, which corresponds to approximately 3:30 AM IST on Wednesday. They are expected to arrive in Delhi by 7:45 PM on July 3.
"Good news. The Indian team finally flew out of Barbados on a special flight arranged by BCCI on Tuesday at 6 pm local time. To land in Delhi around 7.45 pm Wednesday," Gupta posted on X.
Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley anticipates that the country's airport will resume operations within the "next six to 12 hours," ending the closure enforced by the hurricane. The Rohit Sharma-led T20 World Cup 2024 winning squad, along with their support staff, several BCCI officials, and players' families, have been stranded for the past two days due to the hurricane. The team secured the title on June 29 with a seven-run victory over South Africa in the final.
"We hope, and we're working towards later today. I don't want to speak in advance of it, but I've literally been in touch with the airport personnel, and they're doing their last checks now, and we want to resume normal operations as a matter of urgency," Mottley said as per PTI on July 2.
"There are several people who were due to leave late last night or today or tomorrow morning. And we want to make sure that we can facilitate those persons, so I would anticipate that within the next six to 12 hours the airport will be open," she added.
"(We have) been working to ensure that everyone is safe in Barbados, Barbadians and all the visitors, of course, who came for the cricket World Cup. We were very blessed that the storm did not come on land. The hurricane was 80 miles south of us, which limited the level of damage on shore. But as you can see, we've had coastal infrastructure and coastal assets badly damaged," Mottley said.