Bridgetown (Barbados), July 2: Held up in West Indies due to 'Hurricane Beryl', after their ICC T20 World Cup 2024 triumph, the victorious Indian contingent is likely to return home by a charter flight on Tuesday evening.
This was confirmed by Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley on Tuesday. Indian team is held up due to bad weather and closure of the Bridgetown airport. But Mottley expected the airport to become operational in the "next six to 12 hours".
As 'Hurricane Beryl' hit Barbados island on Sunday evening, so Indian team, their coaches and support staff, some BCCI officials and the players' families have been stranded in Barbados for the past two days.
It is expected, if Indian contingent leaves Bridgetown on Tuesday evening, then on Wednesday morning around 8 am, it may land in New Delhi.
As per earlier announcement after their arrival, the victorious Indian team will be felicitated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. But a confirmation in that regard was awaited, sources said.
If Indian contingent cannot leave Barbados as per plan, then there is chance of another hurricane affecting the island on Wednesday evening. That may further delay their departure, Mottley informed.
Among the Indian players and the travelling reserves who are in West Indies for the T20 World Cup, five players - Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson , Yashasvi Jaiswal, Rinku Singh and Khaleel Ahmed are supposed to travel to Zimbabwe for a five-match T20I series.
It can be recalled that the rest of the Indian young team led by Shubman Gill and accompanied by acting Head Coach VVS Laxman, left for Zimbabwe from India on Tuesday morning.
