How ICC, Khimji airlifted over 100 stranded players
How ICC, Khimji airlifted over 100 stranded players: It is not a waste of time to assume that Pankaj Khimji’s victory over a competitive field in an election for Associate Members of the International Cricket Council (ICC) was merited.
His election may have been the global cricket community’s way of collectively recognizing an endeavor that rescued them from a serious “humanitarian” calamity.
When the International Cricket Council (ICC) canceled the Women’s World Cup Qualifier in Zimbabwe in November of 2016, Khimji, the head of Oman Cricket (OC) at the age of 60, rushed to the aid of more than one hundred players and officials. Because of the Omicron wave’s destruction across Africa and the subsequent cancellation of all flights, the competing teams were left stuck in Harare. The International Cricket Council (ICC) was doing everything it could to get the players out of Zimbabwe, but there were very few planes available.
Khimji
Khimji, a businessman in Oman who has been in his family for five generations and is one of the five biggest industrialists in the Gulf nation, used his influence to rush an Oman Air flight to Windhoek, the capital of Namibia. From there, the players from the West Indies, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the United States of America, and Thailand were virtually airlifted to their destinations. Lalchand Rajput, who was the head coach of Zimbabwe at the time, was an Indian and one of those that were saved.
Khimji told Cricbuzz on Sunday, “I’ll hold my thoughts as it was a humanitarian purpose,” but he did not go further (July 24). But Rajput could not forget the traumatic experience. “We were stuck in Harare. We considered leaving as soon as possible due to the rapid spread of the Covid virus. At that time, we were flown first to Namibia and then to Muscat, from which point we all scattered to our various countries of origin” recalled the coach who had previously worked with India.
ICC
The ICC Events Team and Oman Cricket worked together on this event to make it a success. Khimji was successful in obtaining authorization from all relevant international and domestic agencies in a short amount of time in order to fly an Oman Air aircraft to Namibia. Even the West Indies players, who had to wait in Muscat for more than a week before they could travel back to their home islands in the Caribbean, had their visas organized by him.
Because the Oman men’s team was also stranded in Windhoek, where it had traveled to participate in a one-day international tournament with the United Arab Emirates and Namibia, it was important that Khimji mobilize the resources of his administration. But the goal was not just to bring his teammates back; it was to bring back everyone who had become separated. He arranged for a jumbo airplane that was large enough to seat all of the teams and officials, with the exception of Sri Lanka. Due to an outbreak of covid cases in their camp, Sri Lanka was required to remain behind.
The Women’s World Cup Qualifier, from which three teams were to qualify, was always a jinxed tournament having been twice postponed before, once in July 2020 and then again in July 2021, before the ICC rescheduled it in Zimbabwe from November 21 to December 5.
The tournament was originally scheduled to take place in July 2020 but was moved to July 2021. However, because of the new Covid variant wave, the schedule was thrown off, and the International Cricket Council was forced to decide the qualification process for the World Cup in New Zealand (which will take place in March and April 2022) based on the rankings.
Covid
“With the emergence of the latest Covid-19 variant in South Africa and the introduction of travel restrictions from a number of African countries, including the host country Zimbabwe, the ICC has decided to call off the event,” the International Cricket Council (ICC) had said while announcing the postponement.
“The qualification slots will be decided based on team rankings in accordance with the tournament’s playing conditions.” “We have considered a number of possibilities to allow us to continue the tournament but it isn’t practical and we will fly the teams out of Zimbabwe as soon as possible,” its head of Events, Chris Tetley, had added earlier. “We apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.”
Additional light was shed by a source that was involved in the operation. “Oman Cricket should be thanked by the International Cricket Council for their cooperation during a difficult period.
There are three aspects to this explanation. First, Pankaj’s contacts in Oman helped cut through the bureaucracy; second, the Oman men’s squad was also stranded in Africa, which allowed the ICC to collaborate with them; and third, Oman was one of the slower countries to shut down, which gave us more time to work on this issue.
In spite of the fact that it may appear to be overly simplistic, the fact that the rescue operation was successful may be attributed to the vigilant officials in Dubai as well as a Good Cricket Samaritan in Muscat.