BCCI moving IPL final to Ahmedabad from Kolkata sparks political battle: 'Bengal’s cricket lovers are being deprived'

The Board of Control for Cricket in India’s decision to shift the final of the 2025 Indian Premier League to Ahmedabad from Kolkata has sparked a political battle between the Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party, the parties that are in power in the state of West Bengal and at the Centre respectively.

Kolkata’s Eden Gardens and Hyderabad’s Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium were scheduled to host the playoffs in the 18th IPL season , with the former hosting Qualifier 2 and the final. Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad had competed in last year’s final with the former winning their third title with an eight-wicket victory.

As is the tradition in the IPL, the playoffs are hosted in the cities whose franchises had competed in the final of the previous edition, with the home ground of the winning team hosting the last two matches.

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The BCCI had cited the onset of southwest monsoon as well as the possibility of heavy showers as the reason for moving the playoffs from Kolkata and Hyderabad to Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium and Mullanpur’s New PCA Stadium, Punjab Kings’ home ground since last year.

‘Since when have the BCCI and IPL governing council turned into weathermen?’

On Thursday, West Bengal sports minister Aroop Biswas, one of CM Mamata Banerjee’s closest aides questioned how BCCI and the IPL Governing Council had suddenly “turned into weathermen” when weather forecasts in Kolkata and elsewhere could not be more more than a week in advance.

“It is to inform that city forecast for Kolkata for May 20 to May 30 will be available from May 14 onwards. This office issues the forecast for Kolkata for seven days in advance,” Biswas was quoted by The Telegraph as telling reporters in the presence of Kolkata Police commissioner Manoj Verma.

“The forecast for June 1 will be available from May 26 onwards. The IMD has informed that their office has not issued any forecast for Kolkata city for the first week of June. Since when have the BCCI and IPL governing council turned into weathermen?

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“It is evident that Bengal’s cricket lovers are being deprived by moving out the match from the hallowed Eden Gardens,” Biswas added.

The decision to move the venues for the IPL 2025 playoffs, however, only took place after the season was suspended for a week due to an armed conflict between India and Pakistan that occurred in the aftermath of the Pahalgam terror attack last month.

The season was originally scheduled to conclude on Monday. However, the revised schedule after the week-long suspension had the playoffs getting underway from 29 May, with Ahmedabad hosting the final on 3 June.

This will be the third IPL final taking place at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium in four years, starting with Gujarat Titans – the team that calls the world’s largest cricket stadium its home – winning the tournament on debut in 2022.

Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) too had expressed unhappiness over the final being moved to Ahmedabad from Kolkata, stating that it wasn’t possibly to predict weather patterns so early and moving the marquee fixture out of the city for that reason wasn’t a fair call.

Former India captain Sourav Ganguly, who had served as BCCI president from 2019 to 2022, also tried to persuade the board to keep the playoff fixtures in Kolkata.