IPL 2021: Glenn Maxwell hints Australian players may fly to UK together with India, NZ cricketers
Glenn Maxwell said he would agree if the BCCI decides to send Australian players like him to UK alongside India and New Zealand cricketers via a chartered flight after the IPL 2021 as long as it allows for their safe passage back home.
All passenger flights from and to India have been banned by the Australian government till near the end of May due to the surge of COVID-19 cases and deaths here. It has been a cause of anxiety for Glenn Maxwell and other Australian cricketers taking part in the ongoing IPL 2021, as they aren’t sure how exactly they’ll be departing Down Under after the tournament.
“We just want to find a way to go home. The BCCI, both governments can work a solution. If we have to wait a bit longer, so be it; but there is a way to get home at some stage,” Maxwell told ‘The Final Word Podcast’ conducted by journalists Geoff Lemon and Adam Collins.
“India and England are going to play in England. Worst comes to worst, we have to wait in England and try and find a way out in that chartered [flight] and get out of India. I am sure a lot of guys will try and put their hand up in trying to do that as well,” Glenn Maxwell added.
Image Courtesy: iplt20.com
India and New Zealand players are set to fly across the UK together to take part in the World Test Championship final after the IPL 2021. It is understood that England players involved in the league can also accompany them on the chartered flight. To overcome the logistics issue, there is a chance that BCCI could also let Australian cricketers like Glenn Maxwell travel to UK in that flight.
It’s an option that a senior BCCI official said could be explored with the sole aim of ensuring every overseas cricketers’ safe departure back home.
“Travelling to England and going to Australia from there could be an option that can be explored. There will be various options and obviously BCCI will try and take the safest one, which doesn’t compromise any of the players’ health and security,” BCCI treasurer Arun Dhumal had told PTI.
Glenn Maxwell hints Australian players may fly to UK together with India, NZ cricketers
Maxwell further spoke regarding the option, saying he trusts the Indian board to look after IPL’s overseas participants, who enrich the quality of the tournament and add immensely to its popularity across the globe.
“Once IPL finishes and potentially the bubble will be broken, you don’t want to be stuck here, just try and look for the safest way to move on,” said Glenn Maxwell.
“It’s something I floated to Vinnie (fiancee), if things go extremely south, a whole lot worse, what are we actually supposed to do if there is no help? I am sure there will be help from BCCI to accommodate the overseas players at the moment,” he added.
Glenn Maxwell, then, also lauded the BCCI for maintaining a “solid bio-bubble” for IPL 2021 despite the health situation in India looking very grim.
“It’s changed pretty fast in India but we have been sheltered well in the bubble. We are not really exposed too much [to the outside world]. We straight [away] move into the hotel, trying to stick to franchise’s business as usual, i.e., playing your sport.” he said.
As many as 14 Australian cricketers are still part of the IPL 2021 despite three players – Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson – pulling out. Maxwell confirmed he was in touch with his RCB teammates Zampa and Richardson, who left just as the Australian government was about to suspend the flights from India. But the attacking batsman himself chose to stay and wait for things to improve by the end of the tournament.
“That’s probably a situation I will be wary about, making one of these decisions and sort of being stuck. Obviously, the government said that they are going to shut borders from India and that’s pretty scary if you are stuck over here.”
“We are just hoping, come May 15, hopefully things improve, and there’s a lot of work to do, here in India. You see countless people stuck in hospitals needing that extra support, long way to go before it gets better,” Glenn Maxwell concluded.