West Bengal protests move to shift IPL final from Kolkata's Eden Gardens to Ahmedabad
A political row has erupted over the decision to shift the venue of final match of the Indian Premier League 2025, as well as the second qualifier, from Kolkata to Ahmedebad. West Bengal Minister of Sports and Youth Welfare Aroop Biswas alleged on Thursday that politics was behind the cricketing move.
The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had announced that the second qualifier and the IPL final, scheduled to take place on June 1 and 3 respectively, will be held at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad instead of at Kolkata's Eden Garden Stadium.
'The IPL play-offs and final have been moved from Eden Gardens due to political reasons. You are doing politics against Mamata Banerjee, but why are the cricket lovers of Bengal being deprived,' the State Minister asked. 'It is the IPL's rule that last year's champions' home ground will host the final,' he pointed out, adding that the West Bengal government is protesting the shifting of the matches.
'No law and order issues'
Mr. Biswas refuted claims of law and order problems or adverse weather conditions as justifiable reasons for the shift. 'Seven IPL matches have been held at Eden. No untoward incident has taken place. An average of 60,000 to 65,000 spectators have watched each match. So there is no question of law and order problems,' the Minister said. He was addressing a press conference along with Kolkata Police Commissioner Manoj Kumar Verma, who added that neither the general public nor organisers had raised any concerns about law and order.
West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar had said that IPL matches were moved out of Kolkata because of 'law and order issues'.
Mr. Biswas also questioned the weather-related justification cited by the BCCI, noting that weather forecasts for Kolkata for June 1 to 4 will only be available after May 26, according to the India Meteorological Department.
'No forecast has been issued for the first week of June in 2025 in the public domain. Since when did the BCCI become a weather expert?' the Minister asked. He also cited a letter from the head of the Regional Meteorological Centre at Alipore in Kolkata on the weather forecast.
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