NZ Cricket responds to govt's travel ban

By: Andrew Alderson

New Zealand Cricket is keeping a close eye on the evolving situation regarding the travel ban from India.

The government yesterday announced a temporary ban on travellers from India entering the country due to a surge in Covid-19 cases from the region.

The ban begins on Sunday and will remain in place until at least April 28.

Ten Black Caps - Kane Williamson, Trent Boult, Mitchell Santner, Kyle Jamieson, Jimmy Neesham, Tim Seifert, Finn Allen, Scott Kuggeleijn, Adam Milne and Lockie Ferguson - are involved in the Indian Premier League which starts tomorrow morning.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said NZ Cricket was responsible for making its own decisions about the safety of Kiwi cricketers in India at the moment.

"Ultimately these decisions around travel into high risk countries generally will come down to individuals, but also if it's a workforce, their employers," she said at yesterday's announcement. "So those are judgements they need to make."

There are concerns that if any of the players suffer injuries they could be rendered temporarily stateless and would struggle to return home once they exit their squads.

NZC public affairs manager Richard Boock says it's too early to speculate.

"We're monitoring the situation and are in contact with the IPL franchises to keep the lines of communication open, because the tournament's due to go for some time.

"We're prepared to discuss all contingencies, if the situation warrants.

"For argument's sake, if it occurred with one of the test players, it might make more sense for them to continue on to England [for the test tour and world championship final]."