The Indian team was scheduled to depart Barbados on Sunday after winning the T20 World Cup final the previous day, but the arrival of hurricane Beryl has left them stuck in the Caribbean - here are the latest updates on the situation.
According to various reports, India were set to leave via a charter flight on Sunday (June 30), but the airport in Barbados was shut in anticipation of the tropical storm.
Beryl was expected to hit Barbados on Sunday evening local time, with hurricane warnings issued for the island, as well as surrounding ones like St Lucia, St Vincent and Grenada. As per the US National Hurricane Center (NHC), by the time Beryl arrives at the Windward Islands on Monday, it could bring "life-threatening winds and storm surge".
India's players and staff are not thought to be in danger, housed as they are at the Hilton Hotel. However, Saturday evening and Sunday morning saw several residents stocking up on essentials as they prepared to batten down the hatches.
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The storm has now been accorded Category 4 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale, and is now the earliest one on record. There had been criticism directed at the ICC from some quarters about organising a World Cup during the rainy season in the Caribbean. Several matches throughout the tournament were abandoned or shortened.
South Africa have left Barbados, India still stuck
The South African team which played the final managed to depart earlier on Sunday, before airports closed. As things stand, India are still awaiting clearance to leave. Several journalists who travelled to Barbados for covering the final are also stuck currently.
This is likely to cause more than a few itinerary changes to a packed schedule for some of the Indian players.
Shivam Dube, Sanju Samson and Yashasvi Jaiswal along with travelling reserves Shubman Gill, Rinku Singh, Avesh Khan and Khaleel Ahmed have been named in India's T20I squad to travel to Zimbabwe. That series is scheduled to start on July 6, with reports stating that these seven players would be travelling on July 1. It remains to be seen how the situation develops for them.
Shubman Gill will lead a young India side on their five-match T20I tour to Zimbabwe.
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) June 24, 2024
Read more: https://t.co/wXwrZcaEm2 pic.twitter.com/ldkNnNREbL
Barbados latest weather updates on hurricane Beryl
Update at 1:40pm IST (9:10am BST): The storm has just begun to hit Barbados, and is picking up speed according to reports on the ground.
As they’d predicted, the wind’s really picking up now. Properly strong as you can see by the mad swaying of the trees in the distance. Heavy enough to keep blowing the bedroom door open through the windows #Beryl pic.twitter.com/DhoWvkAivK
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) July 1, 2024
Still all calm before the storm, to sound cliched, but if you wanted to know how serious they were about this hurricane, St Lawrence Gap is empty on a Sunday night & it’s eerie and very strange #Beryl pic.twitter.com/wNU6yDwGlv
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) July 1, 2024
So the Barbados airport has been shut. It’s now a curfew like situation and nobody is allowed to step out. Hurricane Beryl is expected to hit in the next 6 hours. Already started drizzling. Beryl upgraded to Category 4 (the second most severe). Team India to stay indoors, packed…
— Vikrant Gupta (@vikrantgupta73) June 30, 2024
Hurricane #Beryl has just become the first June Category 4 Atlantic hurricane in history.
— Colin McCarthy (@US_Stormwatch) June 30, 2024
We have never seen such a strong hurricane this early in the season.
This is exactly why we were so worried about hurricane season this year.
Unprecedented. pic.twitter.com/8I4f624B5z
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