COVID crisis: Ashwin, 3 Aussie players withdraw from IPL; league will go on, says BCCI

Indian Premier League (IPL) has begun to rattle as leading Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin and some Australian players Monday withdrew from the league amid the escalating COVID-19 crisis in India.

BCCI, , according to reports, however, said the league will go on.

Ashwin, who plays for Delhi Capitals, decided to take a break saying that his family is currently “putting up a fight against COVID-19” and he wants to support them. He hopes to return to the side “if things go in the right direction”.

However, Andrew Tye (Rajastan Royals) and the duo of Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa (both Royal Challengers Bangalore) withdrew as apprehension set in after a couple of weeks went by smoothly for the league being held in front of empty stands across nine venues.

While Zampa and Richardson have not yet spoken about their “personal reasons” for leaving, Tye said he feared getting locked out of his own country owing to mounting quarantine cases from India in his hometown Perth.

“I just thought to try and get on the front foot and get home before I got locked out of the country…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’ from Doha, the transit point before his flight to Perth.

The BCCI, on its part, insisted that the event will continue and it wouldn’t come in the way of those wanting to leave.

“As of now, IPL is going ahead. Obviously, if anyone wants to leave, that’s perfectly fine,” a senior Board official said on conditions of anonymity.

While leg-spinner Zampa was bought for Rs 1.5 crore, RCB spent Rs 4 crore to buy pacer Richardson at the players’ auction.

Richardson featured in one match for RCB, returning figures of 1 for 29 in three overs against Rajasthan Royals in Mumbai, but Zampa couldn’t make it to the playing XI this season.

The 34-year-old Tye had also not got a game with the Royals so far and his contract with the franchise was worth Rs one crore.