Alyssa Healy details ‘terrifying' Indian missile experience as IPL set to be restarted

News.com.au

13-05-2025

Alyssa Healy has detailed her harrowing experience in India as she lifted the lid on what transpired when the IPL match her husband Mitchell Starc was playing in was abandoned as the subcontinent was hit with multiple missile strikes.
The Australian women's captain was in Dharamsala last week as the stadium was evacuated in a rush as missile strikes 60km away at the India-Pakistan border had players and staff desperately searching for a way to leave the region.
Indian cricket officials were slammed for their decision to play the match given players had no way to escape the area as airports were shut due to Dharamsala's proximity to the border with Pakistan.
Healy eventually managed to leave the country and return home to Australia over the weekend but had to first endure a five and a half-hour bus ride and a six hour train journey the next day just to reach an airport that wasn't closed.
And speaking on the Willow Talk cricket podcast on Tuesday, which she hosts with Adam Peacock and Brad Haddin, Healy said it was an incredibly scary situation.
'It was a surreal experience. All of a sudden a couple of the light towers went out (during the game) and we were just sitting there up the top (of the stadium) waiting … we're a large group of family and extra support staff and the next minute the guy who wrangles the group of us and gets us on the bus came up and his face was white. He was like, 'We need to go right now,'' Healy said.
'Then (another) guy came out and his face was white and he grabbed one of the children and said, 'We need to leave right now.'
'We were like, 'What's going on?' We weren't told anything. We had no idea.
'Next minute we are down being shuffled into this room which was like a holding pen. All the boys were in there.
'Faf (South African star Faf du Plessis) didn't even have shoes on. We were all just waiting there looking stressed.'
Originally the plan was to rush the teams out by bus that night, but that plan was soon abandoned due to safety concerns of moving through the region in the dark.
Instead, they waited overnight and had to travel around 12 hours by bus and train the next day just to make it to the airport, and even that experience Healy said was 'terrifying'.
'We ended up going south west towards the border which was a little bit terrifying,' Healy told Willow Talk.
'Mitch and I have played too much Call of Duty and we're noticing all the SAM (surface to air missile) sites that were just sitting there ready to go. They're radar-operated systems that shoot missiles at aircraft.
'(We saw) a few of them on the way through in some small towns.'
IPL to restart on Saturday
As a result of India's bubbling cross-border tension with Pakistan, the IPL was suspended with many overseas players and coaches leaving the country.
But after a ceasefire was agreed between the two warring nations on Saturday, the IPL announced its intention to resume this weekend on Monday.
The competition's final 16 games will start on Saturday with the final now not due to be played until June 3.
That means it will start to clash with international cricket, and for those in Australia's world Test championship final squad for the June 11 match, will have less preparation time if they are to return to India.
A large number of Aussie players and coaches have returned Down Under but Ricky Ponting, Brad Haddin and James Hopes remain in India, with Justin Langer and Mike Hussey also on their way back to the subcontinent.
Ponting was hailed a hero by his Punjab franchise for reportedly disembarking a plane he had boarded back to Australia, and encouraging Australian players like Xavier Bartlett and Aaron Hardie to stay put.
However, other players understandably hold concerns over returning to India.
Australian players have been reassured by Cricket Australia that the governing body will defend their right to choose in the event of pressure from the Indian board and IPL clubs.
'Cricket Australia will support players in their individual decisions whether to return to India or not,' CA said in a statement on Tuesday.
'Team management will work through preparation implications for the World Test Championship final for those players who choose to play in the remaining IPL matches.
'We are maintaining communication with the Australian Government and BCCI around security arrangements and safety.'
While the Australian government's current travel advice for India is to 'exercise a high degree of caution' if travelling there.
But Healy said many Australian players may choose to not return given the anxiety around misinformation when they were in the danger zone.
'There was a lot of anxiety around the Australian group because we didn't have a whole heap of information as to what was going on,' Healy told the Willow Talk podcast.
'That's probably been the really interesting and probably the scariest part of this whole situation is the misinformation. Quite close to what's being fought over, but we were assured everything was fine, 'everything is OK. It's miles away, the game will go ahead and everything will be fine.'
'At the end of the day, they evacuated the stadium as a precaution, which was fine, but it was probably a little bit too close for comfort.'
The IPL has 13 group matches left, including the fixture between Ponting's Punjab Kings and Starc's Delhi Capitals, which was called off during the first innings on May 8.
Australians involved in the 2025 IPL
Chennai Super Kings: Nathan Ellis
Delhi Capitals: Mitch Starc and Jake Fraser-McGurk
Kolkata Knight Riders: Spencer Johnson
Lucknow Super Giants: Justin Langer (coach), Mitch Marsh
Punjab Kings: Ricky Ponting (coach), Marcus Stoinis, Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Owen, Josh Inglis, Aaron Hardie and Xavier Bartlett