With less than 48 hours remaining for the highly anticipated Indian Premier League (IPL) 2025 to kick off, an unexpected change has been made to the tournament schedule. The season opener is set to take place on March 22, featuring a clash between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bangalore (RCB) at Eden Gardens, Kolkata. However, just ahead of the tournament, one of the matches has been relocated due to security concerns.

The fixture originally scheduled for April 6 between Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) and Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) at Eden Gardens has now been shifted to Guwahati. The change comes in light of heightened security measures in Kolkata on account of Ram Navami, a major festival, which will lead to a significant deployment of police personnel across the city.

Snehasish Ganguly, President of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), confirmed the development, stating that authorities have not granted approval for the match to proceed in Kolkata. He explained that the police department had informed them about the inability to provide sufficient security for the match, as managing a crowd of 65,000 spectators without adequate law enforcement support would be challenging.

In addition, West Bengal’s Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, announced that over 20,000 processions would be held across the state on Ram Navami, further straining security resources. Due to similar circumstances, a match was rescheduled last season as well.

IPL 2025 will feature 10 teams competing across 74 matches, including the grand final, over a span of 65 days. The tournament will take place across 13 different venues in India.