New Delhi: An Air India special charter flight named AIC24WC – Air India Champions 24 World Cup – has landed in Barbados to bring back the Men in Blue, its support staff, some BCCI officials and the players’ families stranded on the island for the past three days due to Hurricane Beryl.
The contingent is expected to leave Bridgetown at 6pm (local time) and land in Delhi at 7.45pm (IST) on Wednesday, according to reports.
On Tuesday evening, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley had said that the airport was expected to become operational in the “next six to 12 hours”. “I don’t want to speak in advance of it, but I have 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 told PTI.
The window for the Indian team to leave Bridgetown, however, is a narrow one as another hurricane is expected on Wednesday.
She hoped that the Indians, who have stayed put at their hotel since winning the trophy, will be in high spirits despite the lockdown, having ended a title drought of 11 years. “I’m sure that in spite of the passage of the hurricane, that they would have been in very, very, very good mood and spirit and to win in the manner that they won on Saturday. I think they will be floating on air for a little time,” she quipped.
Rohit Sharma’s men secured their T20 World Cup 2024 title, defeating South Africa in the final on Saturday, and were to leave for India on Sunday. They, however, were forced to remain in the island nation after it was hit by the category 4 hurricane on Sunday evening.
