Australian cricketers arrived back in Sydney on a charter flight Monday, more than a week after fleeing Covid-stricken India for the Maldives, local media reported.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Cricket authorities had been rushing to evacuate players and support staff after the lucrative Indian Premier League was suspended earlier this month as coronavirus cases surged in the country.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
National broadcaster ABC reported that players including Steve Smith and David Warner were on board an Air Seychelles plane that touched down in Sydney about 7:30 am local time.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
A group of 38 players, coaches, officials, and TV commentators had reportedly been staying in the Maldives, after leaving India on May 6 aboard a charter flight arranged and paid for by the Board of Control for Cricket in India.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Two days ago the Australian government lifted a temporary ban that threatened citizens attempting to return from India with jail, paving the way for the group to return.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Sunday the cricketers had not been given any special treatment and would be coming back "under their own steam, on their own ticket".<\/p>\r\n\r\n
They are now expected to undergo 14 days of quarantine in a Sydney hotel, as part of strict border controls that have largely contained the spread of the virus in Australia.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Adam Zampa, Andrew Tye, and Kane Richardson had left their IPL teams ahead of the larger Australian contingent and were due to have completed quarantine last week.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The IPL started in early April with the decision to go ahead in the face of a deepening health crisis prompting criticism from some observers, while others defended it as a welcome distraction for the embattled Indian public.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
India reported more than 310,000 new infections and 4,000 deaths on Sunday, with the official number of Covid fatalities in the nation of 1.3 billion people now exceeding 250,000.
\r\n <\/p>\r\n",
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