Zimbabwe stuck in India as Middle East airspace closed

TimesofIndia.com in New Delhi: Zimbabwe, which has already exited the T20 World Cup semi-finals, is gearing up for Sunday’s clash against South Africa in New Delhi. While they trained on the hot Saturday afternoon the day before, by evening their attention shifted to their phones and news channels.U.S. and Israeli air strikes against Iran and counterattacks against U.S. military facilities in the Gulf have affected the airspace of Dubai, the global commercial center. Zimbabwe were due to fly home through the region after a positive match.“You still believe the focus is on the game. At the end of the day, it’s on everyone’s mind. You know you’re going home, when you’re going home, how you’re going to go home, the conversations that are going on in the group. There’s no clear travel plans, just focus on the game from that point on,” Zimbabwe coach Justin Simmons said after the five-match loss to South Africa.As a result, Zimbabwe and their fans were forced to find alternative routes. Simmons revealed that the team was originally scheduled to leave in three batches, but the current situation is unclear. a player on the team, Graeme Creamerlives in Dubai. The team and their fans are considering the possibility of flying to Addis Ababa, the Ethiopian capital, and then continuing their journey.Meanwhile, South Africa has more days left in India. They will now fly to Kolkata for the semi-final against New Zealand. However, the Proteas team has not lost sight of the realities of the outside world.“Obviously, it comes up in every conversation so you can’t wish it away because it’s there. We have to try and nail our yorkers. So when it’s in the conversation, we’ve managed to put it aside,” South Africa coach Shukri Konrad said after they maintained their unbeaten run.“Obviously our head coach, along with the ICC, firmly believes that all the right decisions will be made. All our focus is on Kolkata and Wednesday’s game against New Zealand,” he added.On Saturday, the Dubai-based International Criminal Court issued a statement clarifying that they were monitoring developments. “The International Cricket Council (ICC) is closely monitoring the evolving situation in the Middle East and has activated comprehensive contingency plans to safeguard the travel, logistics and welfare of all stakeholders associated with the 2026 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup currently taking place in India and Sri Lanka,” the statement said.“While the crisis in the Middle East has had no direct impact on the conduct of the tournament, the ICC acknowledges that a large number of personnel – including players, team managers, match officials, broadcast teams and event staff – rely on Gulf hub airports, particularly Dubai (DXB), as a key transit point for onward travel to their home countries after fulfilling their commitments at the tournament,” it continued.As of Sunday, Indian airlines have canceled 350 international flights due to disruptions caused by the escalating conflict in the Gulf region.India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation posted on