KKR reach Kolkata after rain forces overnight stay in Varanasi

The Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) contingent, travelling from Lucknow to Kolkata following their last IPL 2024 game against Lucknow Super Giants (LSG), finally landed in Kolkata on Tuesday* after torrential rains in the east of the country prevented their flight from landing on Monday.

Details provided by the KKR media team said that they left Lucknow at 5.45pm IST, and they were scheduled to land at 7.25pm. An update at 8.46pm said, "Due to inclement weather over Kolkata, the KKR charter flight has been diverted to Guwahati. We've just landed here." Then, at 9.43pm, "We've got clearance to fly back to Kolkata now, from Guwahati. Estimated arrival at 11pm."

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.

Fortunately for them, and the IPL in general, KKR's next game is only on Saturday, almost a week's gap from their last outing, when they beat LSG by a whopping 98 runs to reach the No. 1 spot on the IPL 2024 points table. On Saturday, they take on Mumbai Indians at home at Eden Gardens, before finishing off their league engagements in Ahmedabad (vs Gujarat Titans on May 13) and Guwahati (vs Rajasthan Royals on May 19).

There was torrential rain in Kolkata, which had recorded record-high temperatures over the past few days and weeks, on Monday, with images on news broadcasts and those shared on social media showing waterlogged streets.