The squads are currently in transit to New Delhi aboard a special ‘Vande Bharat Express.

The IPL match between Punjab and Delhi was called off mid-way on Thursday after Pakistan attempted to invade the airspace near Chandigarh with a drone attack, mandating an Indian retaliation.

“On Friday morning, the entire contingents of both teams, including players, coaching staff, and broadcast personnel, were moved in around 40 to 50 small vehicles from Dharamsala to Hoshiarpur, located at the Punjab border,” the official said.

She said this convoy was escorted by the Kangra Police and the Punjab Police took over the security arrangements once the vehicles reached Hoshiarpur.

From there, they were moved to Jalandhar to board the specially arranged train.

Speaking on the evacuation process on Thursday, Agnihotri said: “The stadium was cleared within 20 minutes. Our first priority was the safety of everyone present. Both teams’ players were immediately called back from the ground and shifted to their respective hotels under tight security.” Earlier in the day, the IPL was suspended because of the military confrontation, which was triggered by the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people were gunned down.

The BCCI stated that national interest trumps other considerations at a time when the country is responding to a terror attack and unwarranted aggression from across the border.

India spinner Kuldeep Yadav thanked the BCCI and the Indian Railways for making the arrangements at such a short notice. “There are plenty of staffs. There are BBCI staffs including technical staffs. The entire contingent was big but everything was very good. I would like to thank the BCCI and the Indians Railways,” Kuldeep said in a video posted by IPL on X.

The IPL added: “Thank you, @RailMinIndia, for arranging a special Vande Bharat train on such short notice to ferry the players, support staff, commentators, production crew members, and operations staff to New Delhi.” PTI Corr BPL UNG PM SSC PDS PDS