The match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Lucknow Super Giants will be played at the Barsapara Cricket Stadium, Guwahati. The Kolkata police denied permission to host the match for the Ram Navami festivities and following which, the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) informed the KKR management and the BCCI officials about the possibility of venue change.
According to media reports, the defending champions wanted to change the date at first, but BCCI officials denied it. Later, they agreed to host LSG on April 6 in Guwahati. Interestingly, Rajasthan Royals will also play their couple of home games - against CSK and KKR, in Guwahati.
“We have informed the BCCI to reschedule the match, but there is no scope for rescheduling the game in the city later and I'm now hearing that it's going to be shifted to Guwahati,” Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) President Ganguly told PTI.
Leader of Opposition and BJP MLA Suvendu Adhikary announced that over 20,000 processions are being organised across West Bengal to celebrate the festival. Kolkata Police took notice of the decision and denied security for the match between KKR and LSG. Since then, CAB, KKR and BCCI worked together to resolve the matter immediately.
Notably, the defending champions will play their opening game against Royal Challengers Bengaluru on March 22. Both teams have announced new captains for the season after both Shreyas Iyer and Faf du Plessis were released by KKR and RCB respectively. Ajinkya Rahane and Rajat Patidar were announced their replacements and both the new captains now have a tough job of giving the team a perfect start.
RCB reached Kolkata on March 19 and have started practice. Meanwhile, it needs to be seen how the surface at Eden Gardens behaves in the 2025 season. The home team wants the spinners to dominate but over the last few years, it has been a paradise for the batters.