T20 World Cup: ICC faces criticism as players encounter travel issues

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has come under criticism as Sri Lanka, Ireland and South Africa players faced issues while travelling from Florida to New York ahead of their T20 World Cup 2024 matches, reported Sri Lankan news outlet Newswire on Saturday.

Sri Lanka and Ireland played in the warm-up match in Florida’s extreme weather on Friday and after the match ended, both teams waited for almost seven hours without any updates provided by the ICC on their delayed charter flight.

The teams were scheduled to touch down in New York by 8pm on Friday but they reached the city at 5am on Saturday. The delay proved costly for Sri Lanka as they had to cancel their practice session for the next day.

As if the travelling issues weren’t enough, Sri Lanka have been placed in a hotel that is 1.5 hours away from their practice ground which would have an impact on their practice sessions. 

On the other hand, teams like India have their hotels just near the training grounds and three of their four round matches are in New York.

As per the outlet, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Ireland have already filed a complaint with the ICC on this horrific logistics and organisation planning.

The Islanders will have to depart immediately for Dallas after playing their World Cup opener against South Africa on June 3 in New York, which would mean having no rest period.

With such an atrocious planning for such teams, questions are raised on the fairness of ICC as along with their three group matches, India will also play their warm-up match against Bangladesh in New York.

T20 World Cup 2024 groups

Group A: India, Pakistan, Ireland, Canada, United States

Group B: England, Australia, Namibia, Scotland, Oman

Group C: New Zealand, West Indies, Afghanistan, Uganda, Papua New Guinea

Group D: South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Netherlands, Nepal