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NEW DELHI: The Australian pair of Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa, both of the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad, has left the India Premier League (IPL) and will be returning to Australia due to “personal reasons’.
“Adam Zampa & Kane Richardson are returning to Australia for personal reasons and will be unavailable for the remainder of IPL season. Royal Challengers Bangalore offers complete support to them in all the possible way we can,” RCB said in a statement on Monday (April 26).
Richardson and Zampa became the second and third Australians to leave the IPL following the Rajasthan Royals’ Andrew Tye’s departure on Sunday. Tye flew back to Australia to avoid the risk of not being able to return home because of the prevailing COVID-19 situation.
Englishman Liam Livingstone, also of the Royals, had left for home last week citing “bubble fatigue”, while Ravichandran Ashwin left the Delhi Capitals team to return home to be with his family.
David Hussey, an assistant coach with the Kolkata Knight Riders, has opened up on the subject, saying, “Everyone’s sort of a bit nervous about whether they can get back into Australia. I dare say there’ll be a few other Australians a bit nervous about getting back into Australia.”
India reported 349,691 new cases on Sunday, the fourth straight day of record peaks. Hospitals in Delhi and across the country are turning away patients after running out of medical oxygen and beds.
Australia said last week it would cut flights from India and reduce the number of its citizens able to return from other red-zone countries to contain the risk of more virulent strains of Covid-19 spreading.