IPL 2021: Australian players concerned about Covid situation in India, says Tye
Apr 26, 2021
New Delhi [India], April 26 : After opting out of the ongoing Indian Premier League (IPL), Rajasthan Royals pacer Andrew Tye revealed that several Australian players are worried about the Covid-19 situation in India at the moment.
Rajasthan Royals (RR) on Sunday had informed that pacer Andrew Tye flew back to Australia due to personal reasons. In a tweet, RR said, "AJ Tye flew back to Australia earlier today due to personal reasons. We will continue to offer any support he may need."
"There was a number of reasons for leaving, but the main one was with the situation that has started to happen back home in Perth with a lot of cases in hotel quarantine coming out of India. Now there's been a community case in Perth governments are trying to restrict numbers coming back in, especially Western Australia. I just thought to try and get on the front foot and get home before I got locked out of the country. It's been a long time in bubbles and hubs -- doing the calculations earlier, think I've had 11 days at home out of the bubble since August, so for me I just wanted to get home," Tye told SEN Radio, as reported by ESPNcricinfo.
"There's definitely concerns from the Australians. A lot of guys have been in touch today once they realised I was leaving. Some of the guys are very interested in what route I took home and other guys are just happy to make sure I'm okay. Not sure if I'll be the only one," he added.
Further talking about the Covid-19 situation in India, Tye said: "They are having over 300,000 cases a day and they are only the ones being reported, we know there's probably a lot more than that number who can't get tested. Yes, the IPL and BCCI have done an amazing job of keeping us safe but at the same time it's tough and you also feel bad for the amount of people out there with Covid and we are still able to play cricket."
Tye is the fourth overseas player for the Royals to pull out of the IPL. Earlier, Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer pulled out of the IPL due to injuries while Liam Livingstone flew back home due to bubble fatigue. With this, Rajasthan is now left with only four overseas players. Tye did not play in any game of the season for Rajasthan.
Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) on Monday confirmed that its two Australian players -- Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson -- will be heading back for personal reasons.
Meanwhile, Delhi Capitals spinner Ravichandran Ashwin has announced that he would be taking a break from the ongoing IPL season as he wants to extend support to his family who are currently battling Covid-19.
The Covid-19 pandemic has gripped India and the country has been reporting more than 3,00,000 new cases every day. This is the most number of cases being reported since the pandemic broke out in 2020.
