Kolkata Knight Riders’ IPL home match against Rajasthan Royals on April 17 will be rescheduled after local police expressed their inability to provide adequate security due to the Ram Navami celebrations on that day, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) has said. ) informed the BCCI. . Bengal will also vote in the first phase of the seven-phase general elections on April 19. The voting in Kolkata will take place on June 1. “Since the match coincides with Ram Navami and some security has already been deployed for the elections, it will not be possible for us to provide adequate security for the match on April 17.” The Kolkata Police stated this in a letter to CAB president Snehasish Ganguly.
The CAB has suggested that the match be brought forward by a day (April 16) or postponed by 24 hours to April 18.
“Yes, the CAB has informed us that the local police have requested to move the date and the matter is being investigated. We have not yet decided on the new date,” a senior BCCI official told PTI.
A senior office bearer said via CAB: “We have proposed two dates, April 16 or 18. In any case, it is KKR’s home match and will be played at the Eden Gardens.” The KKR squad is currently in Visakhapatnam for a match against Delhi Capitals on Wednesday.
As far as the date change is concerned, there are a number of practical issues that concern the BCCI.
“If you change one date, there will be a chain reaction. The teams’ travel schedule will change, the broadcasters will have to change their travel plans and ticketing and it will be a huge logistical nightmare,” the senior BCCI official said.
“So we have to take many things into consideration before we can finalize a change in the schedule. If the city police are unable to deploy adequate security, there will obviously be little choice left,” he added.
Of the two dates proposed by the CAB, April 18 seems a bit problematic as the first phase of polling will begin the very next day. On April 19, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri in West Bengal will go to the polls.
However, Kolkata will not go to the polls until June 1, by which time the IPL will have concluded.
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