The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has made a minor change and updated IPL 2024 schedule of the ongoing tournament. Kolkata Knight Riders’ home match against Rajasthan Royals on April 17 has been moved up by a day to April 16. The action has been taken after the Kolkata police expressed concerns related the match clashing with celebrations of Ram Navami in the city.
Moreover, voting also begins in Bengal on April 19 and a section of security personnel has already been deployed for that. Meanwhile, the originally scheduled April 16 encounter between IPL 2022 champions Gujarat Titans and Delhi Capitals at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad will now be played on April 17.
IPL 2024 Schedule: Remaining schedule for second leg of IPL 2024 revealed
Updated IPL 2024 schedule
“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 1,” Kolkata Police had written in a letter to Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Snehashish Ganguly, according to PTI.
However, BCCI didn’t mention the specific reason in its release on the official website of the IPL while announcing the schedule tweak. Moreover, the statement put out also didn’t mention what happens to the tickets already sold for the concerned games.
This is not the first time that matches have been shifted after the updated IPL 2024 schedule is released in India especially due to festivals. In fact, as many as nine matches were had their dates or start times changed after the World Cup schedule was announced last year.
CAB had requested the BCCI to move the England vs Pakistan game from November 12 to 11 to make sure there was no clash with Kali Puja. Even the marquee clash between India and Pakistan in Ahmedabad was preponed by a day after Ahmedabad police, reportedly, expressed concerns of the match clashing with the first day of Navratri festival.
Moreover, the New Zealand vs Pakistan warm-up match in Hyderabad was played behind closed doors with no entry for spectators due to security concerns with the match clashing with Ganesh Chaturthi.
IPL schedule for entire season in itself was finalised as late as March 25 due to general elections in the country. BCCI had earlier released a partial schedule, subject to change, until April 7. The organisers waited for the polling dates of the general elections to be announced and a week later, finalised the rest of the schedule.
For the uninitiated, the league stage matches of the cash-rich league will go on till May 19 with the last match scheduled to be played between Rajasthan Royals and Kolkata Knight Riders at Barsapara Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. The playoffs, qualifier 1 and eliminator, will take place at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad on May 21 and 22 respectively.
The second qualifier and the grand final is scheduled at M Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai with IPL 2024 concluding on May 26.
