×

We've got news for you.

Register on SowetanLIVE at no cost to receive newsletters, read exclusive articles & more.
Register now

Hussey returns to Australia after recovering from COVID-19

Australian coach Mike Hussey.
Australian coach Mike Hussey.
Image: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Chennai Super Kings batting coach Mike Hussey returned to Australia on Monday after recovering from COVID-19, the Indian Premier League (IPL) team said.

Chennai Chief Executive Kasi Viswanathan told PTI news agency that Hussey, who had been treated in hospital for COVID-19, had left for Australia early on Sunday via Doha on a commercial flight.

Australia lifted a two-week ban on its citizens returning from COVID-ravaged India last week.

"Back in super high spirits! Recovered and returned home safe!" Chennai tweeted  alongside a photo of Hussey and bowling coach Lakshmipathy Balaji, who has also recovered from the virus.

On Monday, most of Australia's IPL cricketers, including David Warner, Pat Cummins and Steve Smith, arrived in Sydney after passing a week in the Maldives waiting for border restrictions to be lifted.

Kolkata Knight Riders batsman Tim Seifert, who was treated in the same hospital as Hussey after testing positive, had now returned a negative test and would return home, New Zealand coach Gary Stead said on Tuesday.

Seifert had been due to return to New Zealand on a charter flight with the IPL's Kiwi cohort earlier this month but failed both his pre-departure PCR tests.

"I heard from Tim just a little while ago," New Zealand media quoted Stead as saying. "I think the really encouraging thing is he's tested negative and my understanding is that he's on a flight out of India pretty quickly as well.

"I don't know how long it's going to take him to get back to New Zealand or where he's heading via, but it's great news for Tim."

International cricketers who were part of the IPL started heading back home a day after the lucrative Twenty20 competition was suspended on May 4 due to the COVID-19 crisis.