Hussey to remain in India as exit routes confirmed for Australians
Mike Hussey will be left behind in India to recover from COVID-19 as Australian players, commentators and support staff flee the coronavirus-ravaged country following the postponement of the IPL.
Hussey, batting coach for the Chennai Super Kings, returned a second positive test on Tuesday, forcing him into 10 days’ isolation at the IPL team’s hotel in Delhi.
Australian great Michael Hussey has tested positive for COVID-19. He was in India as a batting coach for the Chennai Super Kings franchise.Credit:Getty
The Herald and The Age have been told of one Australian who, despite being able to leave his room was not doing so, presumably to minimise his chances of contracting the disease.
Though Hussey’s symptoms were mild on Wednesday, there is anxiety among cricket figures his condition could deteriorate in a country whose medical system has been swamped.
ACA chief executive Todd Greenberg said Hussey was in good spirits despite contracting the virus and his IPL franchise had set up a support network. The team manager of the Chennai Super Kings franchise will remain to support Hussey.
“His symptoms are relatively mild, so he’s in for a stint of isolation in his hotel for at least 10 days, but his team have got some really good support systems around him, which is good,” Greenberg said.
He claimed no special requests had been made for the players when they returned to Australia.
“This is a two-step process,” Greenberg said. “The first step is getting them out of India and the next step is getting them safely home.
“We’re still waiting to hear what the government are going to do post-May 15 and once we have that confirmation we’ll put the next start step in place.”
Greenberg claimed the sudden banning of flights from India had caused the players anxiety.
“They signed up for India [the IPL] with their eyes wide open about some of the challenges and risks when they went in. That’s stating that up front. They always know they would have to do isolation for 14 days.
“What they didn’t expect was the borders would be closed so that created some anxiety for them, as it created for the 9000 Australians over there waiting to come home.
“The public will see our best Australian cricketers as almost superheroes. They brilliant athletes and great cricketers, but they’re human beings, they’re people.
“Some of them are fathers and husbands and they’re under enormous amounts of stress over there.”
CA interim chief executive Nick Hockley defended the governing body’s decision to allow the players to play in the IPL despite the global pandemic.
“The IPL put so much effort into putting on the tournament,” he said. “They obviously did that on the best information at the time.”
Hockley praised the Board of Control for Cricket in India for the way they were looking after the Australians at the IPL.
“The BCCI have been absolutely fantastic,” Hockley said. “Not only are they committed to the first movement to either the Maldives or Sri Lanka but also committed to putting them on a charger to bring them back to Australia.”
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