Indian cricket team, BCCI officials could return home on Wednesday after being stranded in Barbados

Indian cricket team players and their family members, who are still stuck in Barbados due to Hurricane Beryl, are expected to reach India by Wednesday evening. As per the reports, Beryl, which has now strengthened into a Category 5 Atlantic hurricane, is expected to pass Barbados by Monday. In such a scenario, Team India, who are
currently stuck in Hotel Hilton in Barbados
after winning their T20 World Cup final against South Africa in the country on Saturday, could be able to leave on Tuesday.

Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley has told Indian news agency PTI that the airport which is currently shut can become operational in the next “six to 12 hours”.

“We hope, and we’re working towards later today. I don’t want to speak in advance of it, but I’ve literally been in touch with the airport personnel and they’re doing their last checks now and we want to resume to normal operations as a matter of urgency,” Mottley told PTI.

“The hurricane was 80 miles south of us, which limited, the level of damage on shore. But as you can see, we’ve had costal, infrastructure and costal assets have been badly damaged,” said Mottley.

As per journalists who are also stuck in Barbados, India will be taking a chartered flight to Delhi on Tuesday at 6 PM (3.30 AM IST on Wednesday) local time and are expected to reach India by Wednesday evening.

The charter flight will carry Indian players, families, support staff, coaches, BCCI officials, and also the journalists.

BCCI general secretary Jay Shah is currently with the team in Barbados and is overseeing the efforts to arrange a charter flight.

The services at Hotel Hilton where Team India is staying were also impacted due to the storm, resulting in a lack of electricity and WiFi. But normal services have been restored now.

As per ABC News, Beryl made landfall after 11:00 AM EDT (7.30 PM IST on Monday) at Grenada’s Carriacou Island with sustained winds of 150 mph and also resulted in death of one man. As per the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s data which date back to 1851, Beryl is the strongest known hurricane to impact Grenadines.