Defending Indian Premier League (IPL) champions Kolkata Knight Riders are set to face Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bengaluru in the season opener this Saturday. The opening ceremony will feature performances by artists like Disha Patani and Shreya Ghoshal. However, just a day before the much-anticipated clash, concerning news has surfaced from Kolkata. The season’s opening match is now under serious threat of being called off, with the weather department issuing an Orange Alert due to heavy rain forecasts.
The India Meteorological Department (IMD) has forecast thunderstorms and rainfall across South Bengal from Thursday through Sunday. An Orange Alert has been issued for March 22 — the opening day of IPL 2025 — and a Yellow Alert for Sunday.
According to Accuweather, Kolkata faces a 74% chance of rain on Saturday, with cloud cover expected to reach 97%. The likelihood of rainfall climbs to 90% by evening. With such conditions, heavy showers at Eden Gardens on the opening day of the 18th IPL season seem almost inevitable. Whether Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru will get enough playtime to produce a result remains uncertain.
Interestingly, one match at Eden Gardens has already been rescheduled. The Kolkata Knight Riders’ home fixture against Lucknow Super Giants, originally set for April 6, will now be moved to Guwahati. According to Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Snehasish Ganguly, the Kolkata police expressed their inability to provide security for the match due to large-scale Ram Navami celebrations in the city that day.
BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari had earlier announced that over 20,000 processions would take place across West Bengal for the festival. “We informed the BCCI about the situation, but there’s no possibility of rescheduling the match in Kolkata at a later date. Now, I’m hearing it’s being shifted to Guwahati,” Ganguly told PTI.
The KKR vs. LSG clash, involving the team owned by RPSG Group chairman Sanjiv Goenka, was expected to attract a full house, with strong fan bases for both sides in the region.
