Incessant rains over last two days ended the possibility of IPL-7’s Qualifier-1 between Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab being held here on Tuesday as scheduled.
Play was called off after the umpires, Nigel Llong, S. Ravi (on field), C. Shamshuddin (third) and O. Nandan (fourth), made an early inspection of the ground at the Eden Gardens at 5:15 p.m.
The match officials determined, after consulting the curator, that there was no possibility of the ground being fit for play, which was scheduled to start at 8 p.m.
As a result, the match has been postponed to the reserve day on Wednesday, in keeping with the match-playing conditions, and is scheduled to start at 4 p.m.
With intermittent showers through the day, the first inspection of the ground was at 12.30 p.m., and the umpires went through the process again at 5.15 p.m. before deciding to call off the match.
According to the East Zone member of the BCCI’s ground & pitches committee, Ashish Kumar Bhowmik, the pitch and the ‘square’ were in good condition, but the curator was of the opinion that the rest of the outfield contained many wet patches which would require at least two hours of sunshine to dry up.
With further rains overnight and again on Wednesday forecast by the met department, the possibility of the match starting as scheduled on the reserve day too appears to be under a cloud.
In the event of the match not being played at all even on the reserve day, Kings XI Punjab — having finished top of the league — will advance through to the final while Kolkata Knight Riders will play Qualifier-2 in Mumbai on May 30, against the winner of the Eliminator.