Umpire Paul Reiffel unable to fly out of India despite having decided to leave IPL 2021.

Byline By- Vinayak Heliwal

Australian Umpire Paul Reiffel who had made up his mind to quit IPL 2021 mid-way due to a surge in Covid-19 Cases in India has been unable to fly out of India.

Paul Reiffel, an ICC Elite Panel umpire had packed his bags to fly home due to fear of being locked in India after Australia banned flights from India until May 15.

Firstly his flight was canceled. The next day, minutes before moving out of his Ahmedabad hotel, he was told that the borders were shut for Australians in India.

“I tried to, but the flight through Doha, I wasn’t able to go through as an Australian. They shut the avenue off… I thought I’d take the opportunity when I could because you don’t know what’s going to happen later on.”

Reiffel also said on Thursday that he was 10 minutes from leaving the IPL bio-bubble when he learned that he would not be allowed the fly to Australia through Doha.

For the unversed if Reiffel had left the bio-bubble before finding out the change in travel plans, he would have been stranded. He would have been required to complete a period of self-isolation before being able to take part in the remainder of the IPL season.

Paul Reiffel will now continue with his IPL Assignments until India – Australia flights resume.

The grim situation in India has forced Many countries like Australia to bar travel to and from India. The development had also forced a few players including the Australian trio of Adam Zampa, Kane Richardson, Andrew Tye along with England’s Liam Livingstone to return home.

Meanwhile, Leading Australian players like Pat Cummins, David Warner and Steve Smith have devised to continue playing in IPL while Marnus Labuschagne who went unsold in the auction says ‘it certainly looks like missing IPL was a blessing in disguise ‘.