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'Please come home': Daughters' heartbreaking plea to David Warner

David Warner, pictured here with his daughters after a Test match in 2019.
David Warner with his daughters after a Test match in 2019. (Photo by Graham Denholm - CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)

David Warner has shared a heartbreaking drawing he received from daughter Ivy amid the crisis surrounding Australia's cricketers stuck in India.

Warner and other Australian cricketers are stranded in India after the IPL was suspended amid a widening coronavirus outbreak.

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Indian cricket officials announced the suspension on Tuesday night, saying they'll work to secure safe passage home for all IPL participants.

But Warner and about 40 Australians at the tournament must stay in India until at least May 15 because of a government ban on any Aussies returning before that.

Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers' Association say they won't seek exemptions from the ban.

Warner posted a heartbreaking drawing he'd received from one of his daughters on Instagram on Tuesday.

The drawing from daughter Ivy showed Warner with his wife Candice and three daughters alongside the message: “Please Daddy come home straight away”.

"We miss you a Lott and love you. Love from Ivy, Indi and Isla.”

Warner captioned his post: "My gorgeous Ivy, so much love."

Fans flooded Warner's post with comments, expressing their love and sadness for the Aussie cricket star.

Warner was dumped as captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad on Sunday before also being left out of the playing XI for their clash against Rajasthan Royals.

Mike Hussey reportedly tests positive

Meanwhile, Aussie cricket great and Chennai Super Kings batting coach Mike Hussey has reportedly tested positive for Covid-19.

"Hussey tested positive. But his samples are being redone," a team source told The Times of India.

"Hopefully, the report will come negative."

The IPL was called off indefinitely after a fourth franchise from the lucrative Twenty20 tournament reported a positive COVID-19 test.

The captain of Steve Smith's Delhi Capitals - coached by Australian great Ricky Ponting - has tested positive.

Delhi skipper Amit Mishra's positive test has forced Smith, his Australian teammate Marcus Stoinis and compatriots Ponting and bowling coach James Hopes into isolation.

David Warner, pictured here during a Sunrisers Hyderabad game in the IPL.
David Warner looks on during a Sunrisers Hyderabad game. (Photo by Qamar Sibtain/The India Today Group via Getty Images)

Warner and Mitchell Marsh will also be isolated after the wicketkeeper at their franchise, the Sunrisers Hyderabad, tested positive.

Fellow countrymen Pat Cummins, Ben Cutting and assistant coach David Hussey, all at the Kolkata Knight Riders, had already been isolating after two players at their outfit tested positive.

Australian fast bowler Jason Behrendorff is also caught up in the outbreak with three staffers at his Chennai Super Kings testing positive.

The halt to the competition came as Indian society buckles with more than 20 million COVID-19 cases and more than 220,000 deaths from the virus.

The BCCI said it would do everything in its powers to arrange for the secure and safe passage of all the participants in IPL 2021.

But Australia's cricketers and staffers will be forced to remain due to a ban on returning Australians, with India's coronavirus count averaging almost 400,000 new cases daily.

Morrison said on Tuesday the latest figures of coronavirus-positive cases in passengers coming out of India demanded the government pause flights.

with AAP

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