Travel restrictions may see Aussies withdraw from IPL

The Indian Premier League is scheduled to commence on April 15 this year, but with the Covid-19 outbreak, there is no saying if and when the tournament will happen at all. In addition to that, Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison’s announcement of a “do not travel overseas” advisory could see no cricketer from Down Under take part in the T20 extravaganza this time around.

The advisory is a level-four warning that suggests one should not travel overseas but is not exactly a travel ban.

The government says, “If you do travel, get professional security advice. Your travel insurance policy might be void. The Australian Government may not be able to help you."

In case this advice remains in place next month, the Australian cricketers would have to finalise individual insurance and take care of emergency plan arrangements as well.

Having recently attempted to soothe concerns that they would revoke no-objection certificates for the tournament, Cricket Australia have decided to support the advisory.

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Australian limited-overs captain, Aaron Finch, who was signed by Royal Challengers Bangalore for this edition of the IPL, expressed his concern over the current situation.

"We've never seen anything like this. That (travel advice) has changed over the last couple of hours. That could change in two weeks or three weeks, it's hard to plan anything,” he said. “But it's just about making sure everyone around you personally is safe and you're doing everything you can to stop the spread.”

At ₹15.5 Cr, Aussie pacer, Pat Cummins, was the highest-paid player at the auction for these season’s IPL. In addition to him, Steve Smith, David Warner and Glenn Maxwell are all also on big-money deals.