When Alyssa Healy, captain of the Australian women’s cricket team and Australian and her husband Mitchell Starc, a leading fast‑bowler for Delhi Capitals, stepped onto the stands at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association Stadium on 8 May 2025, they could not have imagined the night ending in a frantic rush.

The IPL 2025 clash between Punjab Kings and Delhi Capitals was midway through the second inning when the lights flickered, then went out completely. Officials later confirmed a city‑wide blackout ordered by the Indian government as a precaution after missile launches were reported 60 km from Dharamshala. Within minutes, security personnel with “white‑washed faces” ushered players, staff and families onto buses, leaving many, including South African veteran Faaf du Plessis, without even a chance to tighten their shoes.

Background to the India‑Pakistan Standoff

To understand why a cricket match turned into a military‑grade emergency, you have to go back to 22 April 2025, when a terror attack in Pahalgam killed 26 people. The strike set off a chain reaction: India launched missile strikes against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan‑occupied Kashmir on 6‑7 May, and on 8 May Pakistani aircraft attempted to breach Indian airspace near Pathankot, Punjab.

Indian authorities responded by imposing a blackout across six districts – Pathankot, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Hoshiarpur, Mohali and Chandigarh – and ordering heightened security around any high‑visibility structures, especially the illuminated stadium perched on the Himalayan foothills.

Blackout and Evacuation at Dharamshala

From the stands, the first sign was the sudden dimming of the floodlights. "One moment the towers were blazing, the next they were dead," Healy recalled. Within seconds, a security officer – his face pale as if he’d just seen a ghost – barked that everyone needed to leave immediately. A second guard grabbed a child, urging the group toward a makeshift holding area described by witnesses as a "pen".

The evacuation was chaotic. Players sprinted toward the exits, many without their kits. Du Plessis, who had just finished a warm‑up, slipped on the concrete because he hadn’t even slipped his shoes on. "All the players were there. Faaf didn’t have his shoes on," Healy said, her voice shaking.

Once outside, the crowd was shepherded onto vans and then onto a special train bound for Delhi. The train ride lasted three hours, during which Healy and Starc received updates via a secure channel: missiles had been launched from the north‑west, prompting the blackout as a defensive measure to deny visual cues to any potential intruder.

Eyewitness Account from Alyssa Healy

Back in Melbourne, Healy spoke to reporters, describing the experience as "unreal" and "strange." She said the stadium, usually a beacon for tourists, had become a "burning lamp" in the eyes of the Indian military, making it a potential target if the lights stayed on.

"We were a large group of family members and additional support staff, and the next minute that man came who put us on the bus and his face had turned white. He was like, 'We should leave right now.'" Her testimony paints a vivid picture of how quickly the situation escalated from a sports event to a security operation.

Impact on IPL 2025 and the Cricket Community

• Match abandoned after 27 overs; no result recorded.
• All teams granted a one‑day rest period to reassess travel logistics.
• IPL organizers announced a review of security protocols for venues within 200 km of the India‑Pakistan border.
• Fans who had bought tickets received full refunds; merchandisers faced significant losses.

Beyond the immediate disruption, the incident reignited debate over holding high‑profile sporting events in geopolitically sensitive zones. The Operation Sindur – the Indian military’s codename for the May 8 counter‑infiltration effort – underscored the volatility of the region.

Looking Ahead: Security and Future Sports Events

The Indian Army, praised for repelling the infiltration attempts, will likely maintain a heightened alert posture for the rest of the cricket season. Officials from the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) have hinted at possible venue swaps if similar threats arise.

For Healy and Starc, the episode is a stark reminder that sport does not exist in a vacuum. "We went there for cricket, but we left with a lesson about how quickly politics can intervene," Starc said in a later interview.