Since the Indian Premier League resumed, the authorities haven't revealed the venues for the three playoff matches and final. Even though a lot had predicted that the Narendra Modi Stadium was likely to be the ultimate choice for the final match instead of Kolkata's Eden Garden, the venue for the playoffs was in darkness.
Recently, a report from Cricbuzz has revealed that BCCI might assign Mullanpur to host the three playoffs. The new cricket stadium in Punjab, Maharaja Yadavindra Singh International Cricket Stadium, which has been the home ground for Punjab Kings, has hosted 5 matches this season before the tournament paused.
Earlier, Kolkata was supposed to host the final as well as one of the qualifier matches. The eliminator and the other qualifier were scheduled in Hyderabad's Rajiv Gandhi Stadium. Even though the causes behind Hyderabad losing hosting rights are not known, probable rainfall caused Kolkata to lose the rights.
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Heavy rainfall in Bengaluru, RCB vs SRH shifted to Lucknow
Earlier, on May 17, the match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Royal Challengers Bengaluru was abandoned due to nonstop rain, and now the coming match between RCB and Sunrisers Hyderabad has been shifted to the Ekana Stadium, Lucknow. Previously, after the IPL resumed, the match was sheduled on May 23, and now has been dragged to May 27.
Bengaluru is presently under yellow alert imposed by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). The city has registered the highest rainfall of the year, while several places are under water.
In such a situation, the IPL issued an official statement saying:
"The TATA IPL Match No. 65 between Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) and Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) has been relocated to the Bharat Ratna Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow, due to unfavourable weather conditions in Bengaluru."
It added,
"Similar to the playoffs stage, an additional one hour will be allocated to the playing conditions for the remaining matches of the league stage, starting Tuesday, 20 May."
SRH, already in the city after their May 19 game against LSG, ended their season with a strong win but missed out on the playoffs. , meanwhile, aim for a top-two finish after securing a playoff spot thanks to GT's win over DC.
