The T20 World Cup-winning Indian cricket team might be able to fly home on Tuesday evening after Barbados Prime Minister Mia Mottley said she expects the airport to become operational in the “next six to 12 hours”, ending the shutdown forced by a category 4 hurricane. The Rohit Sharma-led squad, its support staff, some BCCI officials, and the players’ families have been stranded for the past two days due to Hurricane Beryl. The team won the title on Saturday after defeating South Africa by seven runs in the final.

“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 normal operations as a matter of urgency,” Mottley, who has been overseeing relief operations on the ground, told PTI.

“There are a number of people who were due to leave yet last night late or today or tomorrow morning. And we want to make sure that we can facilitate those persons, so I would anticipate that within the next six to 12 hours that the airport will be open,” she said.

Life-threatening winds and storm lashed Barbados and nearby islands on Monday. The country, with a population of close to three lakh, has been in a lockdown since Sunday evening.

“(We have) been working to ensure that everyone is safe in Barbados, Barbadians and all of the visitors, of course, who came for the cricket World Cup. We were very blessed that the storm did not come on land.

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

“It could have been a lot worse, but now is the time to do the recovery and the cleanup.”

The window to leave Bridgetown is a narrow one as Mottley revealed that “we have another hurricane coming on Wednesday.”

She hoped that the Indians, who have stayed put at their hotel since winning the trophy, will be in high spirits despite the lockdown, having ended a title drought of 11 years.

“I’m sure that in spite of the passage of the hurricane, that they would have been in very, very, very good mood and spirit and to win in the manner that they won on Saturday. I think they will be floating on air for a little time,” she quipped.

A landing failure of a small aircraft in Barbados has left the T20 World Cup final-bound South Africa and ICC match officials stranded, being delayed by nearly six hours, as per ESPNcricinfo. As per ESPNcricinfo, landing failure of a small private aircraft at the Grantley Adams airport in Barbados resulted in the Proteas team, their family, commentators, match officials and ICC officials being stranded at the Trinidad airport. The Barbados Airport was closed for inspection by the Civil Aviation Authority and the Barbados Police Service.

The pilots learned of the runway closure in Bridgetown just as they were preparing to take off from Trinidad.

Passengers on the aircraft from Trinidad to Barbados were advised that the preliminary rescheduling time was 4.30pm, which would result in a roughly six-hour delay. All boarding passengers had to return to the terminal, adding to the considerable delays experienced by teams during the tournament.

“It appeared that the landing gear of the private aircraft did not deploy, but it is currently on the runway at GAIA [Grantley Adams International Airport] safely,” Sharleen Brown, Corporate Communication Specialist with GAIA, said in a statement as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

On the back of a belligerent bowling performance, South Africa secured a ticket for the men’s T20 World Cup 2024 final for the first time, defeating Afghanistan in the first semi-final in Trinidad.

Bowling Afghanistan out for just 56, South Africa hit their straps early by claiming eight wickets inside the first 10 overs of the innings.

The final will be an affair of heavyweights as India, who ended England’s T20 World Cup defence, will face South Africa in Saturday’s final at the Kensington Oval in Barbados.

After some underwhelming performances, Jos Buttler’s side pulled off a stunning victory to go to the Super Eights, with the captain scoring an unbeaten 83 against the USA to complement a strong bowling performance – featuring a hat-trick from Chris Jordan.

However, they were unable to overcome India, who had been unstoppable thus far in the competition and have gone unbeaten from the start of their campaign. India scored 171/7, while England managed only 103 all out in response.

South Africa vs Afghanistan Live Streaming T20 World Cup 2024 Live Telecast: Afghanistan take on South Africa on Thursday at Port of Spain, Trinidad with a place in the T20 World Cup 2024 up for grabs. While Afghanistan will make their first appearance at the semi-final of a major ICC event, South Africa have played semi-finals of the T20 World Cup in 2009 and 2014, respectively. It will be a chance for both teams to create history as a first-ever final in any Cricket World Cup across both white-ball formats is within touching distance. While South Africa have been unbeaten so far, Afghanistan’s only blip came against the West Indies in the group stage.

Their dream run has been buoyed by wins over New Zealand and Australia, and Afghanistan side will fancy themselves for causing another upset, this time against perfect Proteas.

Notably, Afghanistan and South Africa have only played against each other twice at T20 World Cups. The Proteas recorded comfortable wins on both occasions in 2010 and 2016.

When will the South Africa vs Afghanistan, T20 World Cup Semi-Final match be played?

The South Africa vs Afghanistan, T20 World Cup Semi-Final match will be played on Thursday, June 27.

Where will the South Africa vs Afghanistan, T20 World Cup Semi-Final match be played?

The South Africa vs Afghanistan, T20 World Cup Semi-Final match will be played at the Kensington Oval in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

What time will the South Africa vs Afghanistan, T20 World Cup Semi-Final match start?

The South Africa vs Afghanistan, T20 World Cup Semi-Final match will start at 6 AM IST.

Which TV channels will telecast the South Africa vs Afghanistan, T20 World Cup Semi-Final match?

The South Africa vs Afghanistan, T20 World Cup Semi-Final will be telecasted on the Star Sports Network.

Where to follow the live streaming of the South Africa vs Afghanistan, T20 World Cup Semi-Final match?

The South Africa vs Afghanistan, T20 World Cup Semi-Final will be streamed on Disney+Hotstar (Free for mobile users).

(All the details are as per the information provided by the broadcaster)

As India prepare to take on the unpredictable Afghanistan in the T20 World Cup 2024 Super 8s, it isn’t just the spin threat that the opponent team possesses that they need to be wary of. The ongoing T20 World Cup has seen plenty of washed-out contests, and even India’s final group match against Canada suffered the same fate. Rain threat looms on the India vs Afghanistan clash as well, with weather forecast suggesting some sort of precipitation during the afternoon in Barbados.

According to Accuweather, there remains a 25% probability of rain in Barbados on Wednesday. While the morning is mostly clear, the venue is expected to witness some rain around 1:00 PM local time. With India and Afghanistan set to square off at 10:30 AM local time, expect rain interruption in the second half of the game.

India vs Afghanistan, T20 World Cup 2024: Hourly Weather Report

10:00 AM – 0% chance of rain

11:00 AM – 0% chance of rain

12:00 PM – 1% chance of rain

1:00 PM – 7% chance of rain

2:00 PM – 7% chance of rain

3:00 PM – 7% chance of rain

During their practice session on Tuesday, all four Indian spinners spent plenty of time in the middle. Ravindra Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Axar Patel, and Yuzvendra Chahal practised and all four helped Rohit Sharma, Virat Kohli and Suryakumar Yadav as well by bowling against them in nets.

However, rain interrupted the practice session for a few minutes in Barbados. The city witnessed rainfall on Wednesday as well, and the same is expected on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) shared a video on its social media handle where Rohit Sharma said that his players are keen to do something special in the tournament.

“There is real keenness in the group to go and do something special. It clearly shows that everyone wants to make a difference and we take our skill sessions quite seriously. There is something to achieve in every skill session that you do. Once we play the first game, we are going to play the next two in 3-4 days. It is going to be a little hectic but we are used to all of this. We travel and play a lot so that is not going to be an excuse,” Rohit said in a video posted by BCCI.

With ANI Inputs

India head coach Rahul Dravid was reminded of some bitter memories as he attended the press conference ahead of T20 World Cup 2024 match against Afghanistan. Dravid, who took up the coaching job on the back of an astounding career with the Indian team, doesn’t have the best of numbers behind him in Barbados as a player. As a reporter reminded him of his poor stats at the venue, the India head coach was visibly irked and lost his cool at the question.

Dravid gave the reporter the complete gyan of his psyche, saying he is someone who moves on quickly and is only looking to do well as a coach, not thinking about his own performances as a player in the past.

Reporter: “Rahul, you as a player, you have played here. Not the best memories of the 97 Test?”

Dravid: “Geez, thanks a lot buddy! I have had some other decent memories here as well.”

Reporter: “That is actually my question. A chance for you to probably make new and much better memories tomorrow?”

Dravid: “God man! I am not trying to make new anything man!

Dravid came to Barbados in 1997 when India took on West Indies. Dravid scored 78 and 2 as the Indian team lost the Test by 38 runs in Bridgetown. Now the coach of the Indian team, the legendary cricketer is only thinking of the task at hand, and not what happened more than 25 years ago.

“I move on from things very quickly. That’s one of my things. I don’t look back on things. I try and look at what I am doing now, at the moment. I am not concerned about what happened in 97 or some other year.

“By winning this… you know. If you had told me that by winning this, we would have not scored 80-odd and scored 121, then I would be bothered. But, even if we win this match tomorrow, unfortunately, that is still going to remain 80 on the scorecard, however much I try and will it. No I don’t think about any retribution. I move on from things. What’s in front of me, good or bad?

“I don’t think of myself much as a player anymore. Yeah, just move on. Focus on tomorrow, and try and get a good result tomorrow,” he said in the press conference.