Cricket
Racing
Rugby
League
Motorsport
Football
Golf
Combat Sports
Basketball
Tennis
Other Sports
Sport Nation
Find your Sport Nation frequency'15 minutes from being bombed': Aussies chaotic Pakistan escape
SEN • May 12th, 2025 2:33 pm
Up to 10 Australians affiliated with the Pakistan Super League escaped an airbase 15 minutes before it was bombed, according to Robert Craddock.
Amid rising political tensions on the Pakistan-India border, both the IPL and PSL have been suspended and a host of international players have fled the countries because of ongoing security threats.
While the BCCI remains confident the IPL will resume later this week be it in India or the UAE, it remains unclear how many Australians will be willing to return to either country.
Many are already back on home soil while others have fled to neighbouring countries as uncertainty remains.
“A lot of the Australians that have left don’t have a huge appetite to go back,” Craddock said on SEN Whateley.
“About 10 Australians in the Pakistan Super League - which is now cancelled - got a plane out of a military base in Pakistan to Dubai and 15 minutes after their plane left the tarmac, that military base was hit by missiles. Not destroyed but fires everywhere. It would have been a disaster.
“When they landed Riley Meredith saw it on his phone and realised the base was bombed while they were in the air. The air strip was bombed. It was a chilling moment.
“The players were stunned by it. Max Bryant, he’s in Dubai, he said you can’t escape it.”
Despite a ceasefire being announced, reports of explosions near the Kashmir region have been circulating prompting many to question if restarting the IPL and PSL is appropriate.
It may also put players in the unfortunate position of having to return in order to not breach their contracts.
“What we’re seeing is a cold-blooded game of political one-upmanship,” Craddock continued.
“PSL said let’s move to UAE, India heard that and said to UAE ‘get them out of there, do not let them play’.
“India is so determined to restart the competition so they can say ‘we’re in a war here and we’re winning’.
“Theres been a ceasefire and there’s a meeting today about the IPL. But a lot of international players won’t go back.
“It’s very much a man-by-man choice. Can it cost them? Yes it can.
“Talk all you want about ceasefires (but) the BCCI and government are in lockstep. The Indian government basically runs cricket now. Whatever they want to happen will happen.
“They will want it as a morale lifter. They want it to lift the nation. Australian players are pawns in this political argument. But if you sign up for these big leagues that’s what you get.”
There are 16 fixtures remaining in the IPL season which was scheduled to finish on May 25.
