A couple of matches in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) have been rescheduled owing to Ram Navami celebrations in the City of Joy, Kolkata. The Hindu festival is slated for April 17 and on the same date the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) were to host the Rajasthan Royals (RR) at Eden Gardens. Hence, the game has now been moved ahead by one day to Tuesday, April 16 which meant the earlier scheduled game in Ahmedabad swapping the dates.
"The Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad was earlier scheduled to host the match between Gujarat Titans & Delhi Capitals on April 16, 2024. The fixture will now be played on April 17, 2024," an IPL release said.
With the general elections fast approaching and a portion of security deployed to ensure smooth celebrations of the festival, the decision was taken to move the dates. "Since the match is coinciding with Ram Navami and a portion of security is already deployed for elections. Therefore it won't be possible for us to provide adequate security for the match on April 17," Kolkata Police was quoted as saying to PTI in a letter to Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Snehashish Ganguly.
The fixture promises to be a mouth-watering context given both KKR and the Royals are the only unbeaten teams in the tournament just yet. Even though it might change in a few days given there are still two weeks to go for the clash, the two teams look very strong and there's no reason why it could be one of the games of the tournament. The rescheduling means that the Knight Riders will be playing two back-to-back games at home on April 14 against the Lucknow Super Giants and on April 16 against the Rajasthan Royals.
It is not the first time that games have been rescheduled due to festivals. The India-Pakistan game in World Cup 2023 was preponed by a day from October 15 to 14 because of first day of the Navaratri festival and similarly, the Pakistan-England clash was also moved ahead from November 12 to November 11 on the occasion of Kaali Pooja in Kolkata on Sunday.
