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West Bengal Sports Minister Aroop Biswas slammed the Board of Control for Cricket in India for shifting the Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 playoffs from Kolkata to Ahmedabad. He alleged that there is a political conspiracy behind the decision to shift the venue of the cash-rich league.
The IPL governing council, BCCI, on May 21 announced the new venues for the IPL 2025 playoffs, considering the weather conditions and other factors. IPL 2025 playoffs will now take place in Gujarat and New Chandigarh.
“Rain is an excuse, but it is a conspiracy. The BCCI and IPL Governing Council have blamed the weather but we have received the weather report. CAB had written a letter earlier to know what kind of weather there would be. The Meteorological Department had already written to CAB with the weather forecast between May 20 and May 30. The rest forecast will be published and will be analysed after May 26 said by Meteorological department. There is no forecast before this. We don't know when the IPL Governing Council became meteorologists,” Biswas said as quoted by IndiaToday.
"We were supposed to have the IPL play-offs and finals at Eden Gardens. It is definitely being moved for political reasons. Why did you deprive the cricket lovers of Bengal of my words?"
He refuted claims that law and order issues prompted the shift. “The state BJP president and central minister wrote, the match has been moved from Eden for law and order. The IPL press release on May 20 said that the last four matches were supposed to be held in Hyderabad and Kolkata. But the IPL Governing Council has moved the match due to rainy weather.”
Accusing the Centre of a broader political motive, Biswas said, “On one hand, they are trying to kill the people of Bengal without providing the scheme funds, on the other hand, depriving cricket lovers."
Biswas also praised the management of Kolkata for successfully hosting the seven matches of the marquee event.
“There have been 7 games here, nothing bad happened in one. The best system of water drainage is in Eden, it is completely politically motivated. This has not happened in the history of 93 years. Weather is an excuse. For some reason, the final has to be held in Ahmedabad. In the last 4 years, the final has been held 3 times at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. In 2023, the game was not played due to rain. Can any meteorologist say that it will not rain in Ahmedabad on June 3?”
Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Verma also backed the minister's stance by dismissing concerns about law and order.
“Questions have been raised about law and order in the IPL match. There were 9 games here, 7 matches were played, a lot of people, 60,000 people watched the game every day. No one had any problem.”
“We have had meetings with CAB many times. But no one raised any questions. We only announced the match on April 6 for Ram Navami. We said it thinking about people's safety and people. That match did not go to another state. That match was played on another day. Law and order has always been good in Kolkata, and Kolkata has always been good. But there was some other motive behind it,” the commissioner added.
IPL 2025 was suspended for a week due to concerns for players' safety due to rising border tension between India and Pakistan. BCCI announced the new schedule for the mega event, where they didn't mention the venues for the knockouts and the finale. BCCI Secretary Debjit Saikia, on Wednesday, announced that the IPL playoff phase will begin on May 29, with Qualifier 1 at the New PCA Stadium in New Chandigarh. The second qualifier and the final will be played in Ahmedabad on June 1 and 3, respectively.
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