Australia Cricketer Recalls 'Terrifying' Experience During IND-PAK Conflict
An IPL league match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals was stopped midway as precautionary measure during the India-Pakistan conflict.
Australia women cricket team captain Alyssa Healy has recalled how players, their families, member of support staff and others endured a 'terrifying' experience while being evacuated to a safe location from Dharamsala where an IPL 2025 match was abandoned due to the escalating tensions at the India-Pakistan border last week.
A league match between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals was held at the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala last Thursday and 10.1 overs into the fixture, the floodlights at the venue were switched off with the officials requesting the crowd to start leaving the venue as precautionary measure. The contest was abandoned.
With the nearest airport in Dharamsala shut, the players and their families were taken via bus and then train to New Delhi from where Healy, wife of Delhi Capitals fast bowler Mitchell Starc, took a flight home.
'It was a surreal experience," Healy told Willow Talk Cricket Podcast. 'All of a sudden a couple of the light towers went out 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,'" she added.
Healy said she they were kept inside a room for a while before leaving the venue.
'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 didn't even have shoes on. We were all just waiting there looking stressed," Healy said.
'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," she added.
With the two countries announcing ceasefire, the IPL will now resume later this week.
First Published:
May 14, 2025, 10:26 IST
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