The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) on Tuesday announced the rescheduling of two Indian Premier League (IPL) 2024 matches. (Full Coverage | More Cricket News)
The news comes a day after reports suggested that Cricket Association of Bengal had requested the board to shift Kolkata Knight Riders' home match against Rajasthan Royals on April 17 due to security reasons as the game clashed with Ram Navami festivities.
As per the revised schedule, the fixture between Kolkata Knight Riders & Rajasthan Royals, which was earlier scheduled to take place on April 17 at Eden Gardens, will now be played a day prior on April 16 at the same ground.
At the same time the game that was earlier scheduled for April 16 has been postponed by a day. The Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will now host the match between Gujarat Titans & Delhi Capitals on April 17 instead of April 16, the day when Eden Gardens was supposed to host Rajasthan Royals in Kolkata.
The schedule change has been done as the CAB had expressed its inability to provide adequate security for the match in Kolkata.
"Since the match is coinciding with Ram Navami and a portion of security is already deployed for elections, it won't be possible for us to provide adequate security for the match on April 17," Kolkata Police had stated in a letter to CAB president Snehasish Ganguly, according to PTI.
The first phase of the Lok Sabha Elections begins on April 19 with West Bengal's Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and Jalpaiguri set to vote on that day.
Kolkata Knight Riders with two wins in two matches are the only unbeaten team in the tournament apart from Rajasthan Royals. Led by Shreyas Iyer, the Knight Riders will be taking the field on Wednesday against Delhi Capitals.
Rajasthan Royals meanwhile sit at the top of the table with three comfortable victories in their first three matches.
