Image Credit- KKR
After their final IPL 2024 match against the Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) delegation travelled from Lucknow to Kolkata. Their flight was delayed on Monday because to heavy rains in the east of the country, and they finally arrived in Kolkata on Tuesday*.
According to information given by the KKR media team, they were supposed to land around 7.25 p.m. and left Lucknow at 5.45 p.m. IST. An update at 8:46 p.m. stated, “The KKR charter flight has been diverted to Guwahati due to inclement weather over Kolkata.” We just touched down here.” Then, at 9:43 p.m., “We have permission to depart Guwahati and return to Kolkata. Arrival is anticipated at 11 p.m.
That would have been that, except that another message, this one at 1.15am, confirmed that things hadn’t gone smoothly at all. “[The] flight took off from Guwahati to Kolkata, was scheduled to land at 11pm. [But it] couldn’t land once again due to bad weather, despite several attempts. [It was] diverted mid-air to Varanasi now. Just landed here.”
And finally, at 3am, “The team would be checking into Varanasi hotel [Taj Ganges] for overnight stay. Return flight to Kolkata TBD on Tuesday (7 May) afternoon.” The flight is expected to leave Varanasi at 1.15pm on Tuesday.
Thankfully for them and the IPL in general, KKR’s next match is only scheduled for this Saturday, over a week after their previous match, in which they defeated LSG by an overwhelming 98 runs to take the top spot on the IPL 2024 points chart. They play the Mumbai Indians at Eden Gardens on Saturday before wrapping up their league matches on May 13 in Ahmedabad against the Gujarat Titans and May 19 in Guwahati against the Rajasthan Royals.
On Monday, Kolkata—which had seen record-high temperatures over the previous few days and weeks—saw torrential rain. Images from television broadcasts and social media posts showed streets covered in water.