Alyssa Healy’s personal admission as Mitchell Starc faces pressing Indian Premier League decision

Australian cricket star Alyssa Healy has opened up on the “surreal experience” of rushing home from India amid renewed fighting with Pakistan — just as husband Mitchell Starc and other Aussies weigh up returning to the countries.

The Indian Premier League will start up this weekend and belatedly host its final on June 3 while the Pakistan Super League is also expected to announce an imminent plan to resume.

Both competitions were suspended last week and several Australians — from players and coaches to commentators and others — returned home over the weekend.

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today

Those who left must now decide whether they want to return, with a select group of Australians needing to weigh up turning their attentions to the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s beginning on June 11.

“Following the announcement that the IPL will resume on Saturday, Cricket Australia will support players in their individual decisions whether to return to India or not,” a CA spokesperson said.

“We are maintaining communication with the Australian Government and BCCI around security arrangements and safety.”

Australia’s squad for the WTC final will be announced on Tuesday, with team management to “work through preparation implications” for the players who choose to return to India.

The decision about whether players return or not won’t be straightforward, with big money and future IPL prospects to consider.

The general feeling is most players will finish the tournament, especially those who are first-choice players.

Starc’s Delhi Capitals are in the mix for the IPL finals. Credit: AAP

Healy, speaking the day after they returned home, did not reveal Starc’s plans but made clear what she would do if she needed to decide whether to fly straight back.

“To be completely honest ... if I was a player right now, to feel comfortable to go back and take part in the tournament I’d be waiting for some government advice to say yes it’s safe to go back to India right now,” she said on Willow Talk.

“The ceasefire’s only been in place for a day, it’s held for a day, it was broken in the first four hours, so we’ve been told.

“For me to feel safe I’d like the Australian government to say ‘no, you’re OK, things have de-escalated’.”

The current advice is to “exercise a high degree of caution in India overall” and not to travel to the border areas.

She noted she will continue to watch with interest given the women’s Cricket World Cup is due to take place in the country in September and October.

‘We need to leave right now’

Healy was in attendance watching Starc at Dharamsala when the light towers went out and play was abandoned.

“We were just sitting there at the top waiting. I heard a rumour, a couple of seats down, they were saying ‘we might have to evacuate the stadium’ because obviously the lights have gone down,” Healy said.

“We’re a large group of family and extra support staff. Next minute the guy that wrangles the group of us and gets us on the bus and whatnot came up and his face was white. He was like ‘we need to go right now’.

“We were saying it’s OK, we’re probably best off letting everyone else get out of the stadium because there’ll be people going down the stairs everywhere.

“Then the next guy came out, his face was white, grabbed one of the children and said ‘we need to leave right now’.

“And we were like ‘what’s going on?’ We weren’t told anything, we had no idea. Next minute we’re down being shuffled into this room which was like a holding pen. All the boys were in there.

“We were all just waiting there looking stressed. I said to Mitch ‘what’s going on’. He said the town 60km away had just been smacked by some of the missiles.

“And so there was a complete blackout in the area, which meant that’s why the lights were off because the Dharamsala Stadium was like a beacon at that point in time.

“They turned the lights off and evacuating everyone, all of a sudden we’re crammed into vans and off we go back to the hotel. There was madness. ‘Get in the van, as soon as you can, get out of there’.”

Security are seen on the field as the Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals’ match in Dharamsala is called off. Credit: X

Concerns had already been raised prior to that dramatic night after airports in the region were shut.

“We obviously knew we were going to struggle getting out if completely necessary ... that probably created a bit of anxiety,” Healy said.

“There was a lot of anxiety around especially probably the Australian group, because we didn’t have a whole heap of information as to what was going on.

“And that’s probably been, I’ll say, the really interesting and probably the scariest part of this whole situation is probably the misinformation that’s around the world and probably around life in general at the moment.

“There’s a lot going on but everything you read, saw and heard was different. What was actually taking place, no one really knew.

“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 if you ask probably an Australian who... we live quite safely and happily down here.

“At no point did I really feel terrified, like something was genuinely gonna happen — it still felt like 60km isn’t that far away but there’s a lot of mountain ranges to get over before you get there.”

The match was called off after the blackout. Credit: Getty Images

Healy and Starc were among a group that spent nearly six hours on a bus then six more hours on a train to get to Delhi.

She said it was “a little bit terrifying” driving south-west towards the India-Pakistan border, particularly when they spotted machinery on the side of the roads.

“Mitch and I have played too much Call of Duty and we’re noticing all the SAM sites that were just sitting there ready to go,” Healy said.

“For those that don’t know they’re a radar-operated system that shoot missiles at aircraft. There were a few of them on the way through in some of the small towns.”

Other high-profile Australians involved in the India and Pakistan tournaments include David Warner, Ricky Ponting, Brad Haddin, Justin Langer, Mike Hussey, Matthew Hayden and Mel Jones.

The situation for those in Pakistan has been more fraught than in India.

Healy said some players had witnessed a drone being shot down out of the sky.

Australians were later flown out of the country via an air base in Islamabad that was hours later the target of a missile strike.

“It’s probably a story for those guys and girls to tell,” Healy said.

- with AAP

Click here to read article