Australia women’s cricket team captain Alyssa Healy recently recalled the chaotic atmosphere in the HPCA Stadium in Dharamsala during the abandoned Indian Premier League 2025 (IPL 2025) fixture between Punjab Kings (PBKS) and Delhi Capitals (DC). The match was cancelled midway after Pakistan attacked several parts of north India.
Healy, who’s also the spouse of Australia and DC fast bowler Mitchell Starc, was in attendance to watch the fixture. Recently, Healy recalled the chaotic atmosphere in the stadium after one of the light towers went off. She revealed how they were asked to leave the stadium immediately.
“Couple of the light towers went out and we were just there waiting. I heard a rumour a couple of seats down that we might have to evacuate the stadium cause the lights gone down. And we are large group of family and extra support staff. And next minute the guy that kind of wrangles the group of us and gets us on the bus comes up and his face was white,” Healy said on the ‘WillowTalk’ podcast.
“And he was like, we need to go right now. And we were saying, ‘oh, it’s okay’. Like we’re probably best off letting everyone else get out of the stadium and like stay here. We’re probably safer at the moment. Cause there’ll be people going down the stairs everywhere. Then the next guy came out, his face was white, grabbed one of the children and said ‘we need to leave right now’,” the wicketkeeper batter said.
Furthermore, the Australia wicketkeeper batter also disclosed how players were rushed into the vans as she spotted Faf du Plessis without his shoes on. She also mentioned how Mitchell Starc told her about the attack by Pakistan, which forced the lights to be shut in the stadium.
“The boys (players) are there. Faf didn’t even have shoes on. They’re all just waiting there looking stressed. I asked to Mitch, ‘what’s going on?’ And he said, ‘the town 60 kilometres away had just been smacked by some of the missiles’. And so there was a complete blackout in the area, which meant that’s why the lights were off because the Dharmasala stadium was like a beacon at that point in time,” Healy further said.
“So all of a sudden we’re crammed into vans and off we go back to the hotel. There was madness. We’re sitting on the bus with some of the Punjab players. I think Shreyas was on my bus. It was just like get in a van as soon as you can get out of there,” she added.
After the game got abandoned, the BCCI suspended the IPL 2025 with immediate effect amid the rising border tensions with Pakistan. The tournament is all set to resume on May 17 in Bengaluru with the opening game between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR). Meanwhile, PBKS and DC will take on each other once again on May 24 at Sawai Mansingh Stadium, Jaipur.