The Australian pair of Kane Richardson and Adam Zampa, both of the Royal Challengers Bangalore squad, have left the IPL and will be returning to Australia. A statement by the franchise put their decision down to "personal reasons".
Official Announcment:
— Royal Challengers Bangalore (@RCBTweets) April 26, 2021
Adam Zampa & Kane Richardson are returning to Australia for personal reasons and will be unavailable for the remainder of #IPL2021. Royal Challengers Bangalore management respects their decision and offers them complete support.#PlayBold #WeAreChallengers pic.twitter.com/NfzIOW5Pwl
Richardson and Zampa became the second and third Australians to leave the IPL following the Rajasthan Royals' Andrew Tye's departure on Sunday. Tye has flown back to Australia to avoid the risk of not being able to return home because of the prevailing Covid-19 situation.
"Everyone's sort of a bit nervous about whether they can get back into Australia. I dare say there'll be a few other Australians a bit nervous about getting back into Australia" David Hussey
"There was a number of reasons [for leaving], but the main one was with the situation that has started to happen back home in Perth with a lot of cases in hotel quarantine coming out of India," Tye told SEN radio from Doha on Monday as he transited on to a flight to Sydney. "Now there's been a community case in Perth, governments are trying to restrict numbers coming back in, especially Western Australia."
Englishman Liam Livingstone, also of the Royals, had left for home last week citing "bubble fatigue", while R Ashwin left the Delhi Capitals team set-up on Sunday to return home to be with his family as India grappled with a vicious second wave of the pandemic.
David Hussey, an assistant coach with the Kolkata Knight Riders, has opened up on the subject to the Sydney Morning Herald, saying, "Everyone's sort of a bit nervous about whether they can get back into Australia. I dare say there'll be a few other Australians a bit nervous about getting back into Australia."
Richardson played one game for the Royal Challengers in IPL 2021, returning figures of 1 for 29 in three overs against the Royals in Mumbai. Zampa hasn't featured in the playing XI for RCB at all this season despite spin-friendly conditions in Chennai. He had earlier missed the first game of RCB's season because of his marriage.
With Richardson and Zampa leaving, the Royal Challengers' overseas contingent has been reduced to six players: Finn Allen, Dan Christian, AB de Villiers, Glenn Maxwell, Kyle Jamieson and Daniel Sams.