
CHENNAI: Three days after lifting the T20 World Cup trophy at the Kensington Oval, the Indian team is finally set to leave Barbados on Tuesday evening (local time). Taking a charter flight, they are expected to arrive in New Delhi late Wednesday evening. After reaching the national capital, they are expected to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but the timings of it are yet to be confirmed.
Having beaten South Africa to win the global title on Saturday, the Indian team led by Rohit Sharma, the support staff, BCCI office bearers and a significant part of the media contingent were stuck in Bridgetown because of the hurricane Beryl. With airports shut down and the country going into a lockdown on Sunday evening, they were forced to stay put in Bridgetown.
On Monday, the Barbados Meteorological Services, a government body, issued a statement saying that the eye of the dangerous Beryl hurricane had moved away from Barbados. "The Hurricane Warning for Barbados has been DISCONTINUED at 2pm today Monday 1st July 2024. Strong winds of 45 to 65 km/h (28 to 40 mph) with higher gusts will continue to affect the island this afternoon. A Wind Advisory is now in effect for Barbados until 6pm," the statement read.
With the situation getting better on Tuesday, Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley was quoted by PTI saying that they want to resume normal operations at the Grantley Adams International Airport as a matter of emergency. "There are a number of people who were due to leave last night or today or tomorrow morning. And we want to make sure that we can facilitate those persons, so I would anticipate that within the next six to 12 hours the airport will be open," she had said on Monday evening.
The window becomes all more crucial as there is another tropical wave located in the Atlantic Ocean, 1100km east of Barbados. "The tropical wave is expected to affect Barbados early tomorrow Wednesday July 3rd, 2024. During that time there is the possibility of flash-flooding due to moderate to heavy rainfall, occasional gusty winds and agitated marine conditions. The public is encouraged to continue monitoring the BMS, DEM and GIS websites and their respective social media pages along with the local media networks for further updates on this system," Barbados Meteorological Services said in a statement.
Harshit gets India call-up
With Sanju Samson, Shivam Dube and Yashasvi Jaiswal set to fly back to India from the Caribbean along with the World Cup-winning squad, B Sai Sudharsan, Jitesh Sharma and Harshit Rana were named as replacements for the first two T20Is against Zimbabwe on Tuesday. India will play their first match on July 6, followed by the second one on Sunday. Meanwhile, the BCCI has not named replacements for Khaleel Ahmed and Rinku Singh who were a part of the reserves and are with the team in Barbados.