Jay Shah ‘rescues’ Indian media contingent from Barbados

The Secretary of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is yet again in the news, and this time, it’s because he has come to the aid of the Indian sports journalists who were stuck in Barbados.

Flight operations were shut down in Barbados because Hurricane Beryl passed near the coast on Sunday night, delaying the arrival of the T20 World Cup-winning Indian team from the Caribbean. However, along with Team India, a large contingent of Indian sports journalists who were there to cover the tournament were also stuck. 

As known from the tweets of some journalists stuck there, Secretary Shah came to the rescue of these journalists the moment he heard of their plight. Now, the media contingent will fly on the same flight as the team, which is assigned the call sign AIC24WC (to celebrate India winning the 2024 T20 World Cup). As per journalist Abhishek Tripathi, AIC24WC is scheduled to reach New Delhi around 6 AM on Thursday. 

“The Indian media was also stuck in Barbados because of the hurricane. Most journalists had their tickets cancelled, and no new bookings were available until July 7,” Tripathi wrote in a tweet on July 3. 

“When the BCCI secretary heard of this, then he also promised to get the 22 Indian journalists out of there. Now all journalists are coming to India in the same Air India flight that will be carrying the World Champion Team India. Special thanks to the BCCI secretary for taking this step.”

Secretary Shah informed the media earlier that Team India’s arrival was delayed due to the hurricane. 

“Like you, we are also stuck here. After travel plans are clear, we will think about the felicitation,” Shah told the media. 

Notably, the delayed travel plans impacted Sanju Samson, Yashasvi Jaiswal, and Shivam Dube's departure for the Zimbabwe tour, which starts on July 6. Harshit Rana, Sai Sudharsan, and Jitesh Sharma have been added to the squad as their replacements. The players in Barbados will first travel to India with the World Cup-winning team. 

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