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The T20 World Cup 2024 has reached the penultimate stage, and it will be South Africa taking on inaugural champions India on Saturday, June 29 at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados. Ahead of the T20 World Cup 2024 final, the Protea Men fell victim of some logistical issues, which has been an issue faced by several former cricketers and teams alike during the course of one-month long event.
As reported by ESPNcricinfo, the South African team, who beat Afghanistan early on Thursday, June 27 and entered their first final of T20 World Cup, reached Barbados, the venue of the finale six hours later than the scheduled time. The Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA) saw some unsuccessful landing attempts by a small private jet, which eventually led to the Civil Aviation Authority and the Barbados Police Service begin their investigation. As a result, all flights suffered delays. The runway remained closed till the investigation continued and all flyers from Trinidad could not get their flights in time.
Notably, the delay occurred when South Africa team and ICC officials were about to take off. Although the pilots of the teams and ICC officials were informed about the situation in Barbados and thus, they had to get down and head back to the terminals.
“It appeared that the landing gear of the private aircraft did not deploy, but it is currently on the runway at GAIA (Grantley Adams International Airport) safely,” Sharleen Brown, Corporate Communication Specialist with GAIA said in a statement.
The Aiden Markram-led side earlier in the T20 World Cup 2024 had to spend an entire night at the airport while travelling from Florida to New York in the initial stage. Even Sri Lanka and Ireland faced travel challenges during their T20 World Cup 2024 campaign in the United States of America.
