Devon Conway (L) is one of the five players at the IPL in India. Photo: FAROOQ NAEEM
New Zealand cricketers are leaving India after the Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket tournament was suspended due to escalating tension and the threat of war between India and Pakistan over the disputed region of Kashmir.
The New Zealand Players Association told RNZ they will be on their way home on flights leaving India on Saturday.
New Zealand has five players at the IPL currently: Devon Conway, Mitchell Santner, Trent Boult, Rachin Ravindra and BJ Jacobs.
Pakistan and India have been clashing since India struck several areas that it described as "terrorist infrastructure" in Pakistan on Wednesday, in retaliation for a deadly attack on Hindu tourists in India-administered Kashmir last month.
Pakistan dismissed Indian accusations that it was involved.
Both countries have exchanged cross-border fire and shelling and sent drones and missiles into each other's airspace.
The relationship between India and Pakistan has been fraught with tension since they gained independence from colonial Britain in 1947.
The countries have fought three wars, two of them over the disputed region of Kashmir.
Map showing disputed parts of the Kashmir region. Photo: AFP / JOHN SAEKI
Chief executive of the New Zealand Cricket Players Association Heath Mills told RNZ: "All our players are booked on flights to come home to New Zealand today Indian time, so that's good from our perspective, and they're pleased about that."
In a statement, NZ Cricket said all New Zealanders in the IPL had either left India or were in the process of leaving "as flights become available".
It said New Zealand cricketers in the PSL - the Pakistan equivalent - including players, coaches, support staff and commentators had left Pakistan for Dubai, where games would be played.
The men's New Zealand A team was in Bangladesh, but its schedule was unchanged.
NZ Cricket said its current advice was the tour should go ahead, and it was continuing to monitor the security situation.
Mills said he was not sure what might happen if Indian cricket authorities decided to postpone or suspend the competition further.
"At the moment, we're just focused on the players getting home and then we'll just wait and see what the Indian Cricket Board wants to do.
"The players are reading everything that we're all reading and obviously their friends and family are back home too, so it's been a really anxious time for the guys over the last three or four days and they just want to get home."
Correction: A previous version of this story wrongly included Lockie Ferguson and left Rachin Ravindra off the list of players at the IPL.
- RNZ / Reuters
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