IPL 2021: Paul Reiffel to continue officiating after unable to fly out

Former Australian cricketer and one of the most reputed umpires going around the circuit, Paul Reiffel almost found himself in hot waters when he had a close shave in a bid to return to Australia midway through the IPL. He had withdrawn his name from the list of officials and decided to fly back to Australia. 

However within minutes after leaving the bio-secure bubble on Wednesday, Reiffel realised that he can’t fly out of India after stringent rules put in by the Australian government in context with the severe condition in India due to the second wave of COVID-19. 

He will now officiate in the rest of the tournament before leaving for his home country with the rest of the Australian contingent. Concerned with the rising COVID cases in India. Reiffel had decided to fly back early keeping in mind that he could be stranded in the nation.

 He managed to arrange travel to Sydney from Doha which was the same option that was used by Adam Zampa and Kane Richardson when they pulled out of the tournament recently. 

“I tried to, but the flight through Doha, I wasn’t able to go through as an Australian. They shut the avenue off. I know a couple of the guys got back that way through there, but the avenue was closed so I had to stay. Yesterday I was booked to go, but it got cancelled. I thought I’d take the opportunity when I could, because you don’t know what’s going to happen later on,” Reiffel was quoted as saying from his Ahmedabad hotel. 

Had Reiffell left the protected environment of the bio-bubble, he had to quarantine himself in order to officiate in the rest of the tournament again. However, he was lucky that he was within the premises of the bio-bubble and admitted that he was just 10 minutes away from leaving the bubble. 

“I was 10 minutes away from leaving the bubble, so I’m very lucky,” Reiffel said.

Before signing up as an umpire in the IPL, Reiffel knew that it wasn’t going to be easy with an immense surge in the COVID cases in India. However, he couldn’t refuse the lucrative offer from IPL after mentioning that opportunities to work were few and far between due to the pandemic. 

“It’s how I make a living. In these COVID times I haven’t umpired a lot so any opportunity to get some work, you take it. You know any travel can end up any which way. It’s how I make a living. To knock back work, you just can’t afford to. You have to look at everything and try and weigh it up. When I accepted and it all started, it was a very different landscape. It escalated pretty quickly but that’s what happens with COVID. It happens quickly and a lot of the times you can’t see it happening,” Reiffel said. 

He also lamented the fact that it is a very different India which he is not used to seeing. With many people having different opinions on the IPL. Reiffel said that it was a very tough call whether to suspend the league, especially in these troubled times. The IPL has at least made the viewers forget all the sorrows even if for three hours. 

“It’s a whole lot more quiet than usual, it’s a bit unusual for India. There’s still people about but it’s very quiet, there’s a lot of people at home. It’s hard to tell what life’s like. It’s just the hotel and cricket.”

“I have read a lot of people have different opinions but cricket in India is such a massive thing. For it to be suspended would be such a massive thing to do over here. They’re keeping it going – a lot of people are enjoying it,” Reiffel concluded.