West Indies team’s departure from India further delayed
KOLKATA, India (CMC) — Players and staff of the West Indies senior men’s team will have to wait just a few more days before they can return home from India, where they competed at the Twenty20 (T20) Cricket World Cup.
The regional team, which has been stranded on the subcontinent since March 1 due to the crisis in West Asia, have been informed that they will now leave in the early hours of Tuesday, according to a report from ESPNcricinfo.
Both West Indies and South Africa are scheduled to leave on a charter flight on March 10, with the Proteas travelling to Johannesburg while the Windies will travel to Antigua from there.
According to the report, the two sides were earlier expecting to leave on Sunday, March 8, but confirmation of the new date was given to them on Sunday afternoon.
It is the third time the regional team’s travelling plans have been altered. They were initially scheduled to leave on Friday, but that date was then pushed back to Sunday.
Three members of South Africa’s squad – Keshav Maharaj, Jason Smith and George Linde – along with the entire management team, were to leave India on Sunday and head to New Zealand, where South Africa will play five T20 Internationals starting March 15.
The changing travel plans, caused by airspaces being closed or limited in west Asia following the crisis, have caused unhappiness in both camps.