Gujarat Cricket Association reveals why RCB cancelled Practice Session Before IPL Eliminator

The Gujarat Cricket Association on Tuesday denied reports that RCB cancelled their only practice session before the IPL 2024 Eliminator against RR due to security threats.

On Monday night, the Gujarat Police arrested 4 people from the Ahmedabad airport on suspicion of terror activities. The police reportedly recovered arms, suspicious videos and text messages after searching the hideout of the four accused.

The development prompted a report in the Bengali daily that the Royal Challengers Bengaluru cancelled their practice session after a probable threat to Virat Kohli’s security, but the GCA claimed that RCB took this step due to the prevailing heatwave in the city.

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“There was no terror threat, We had made provision for both the Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru to practice at the Gujarat College ground. RCB were supposed to practice from 2pm to 5pm before they changed it to 3pm to 6pm, as the light is good till 6:30pm in the summer in Ahmedabad.

However, the RR practised from 3:30pm to 6:30pm at the Gujarat College ground with their full squad. RCB skipped their practice session due to the prevailing heat wave in the city. We had told RCB that they could use the indoor practice facility there, or at the Indoor facility at the Narendra Modi Stadium.

However, RCB didn’t want to practice because of the heatwave,” Anil Patil, secretary Gujarat Cricket Association, said.

“We had taken special permission from the collector’s office (for the trams to practice at the college ground), because the college ground comes under its control. The collector had given special permission for both the teams to practice at the college ground. However, as I said earlier, the RCB avoided the practice session because of the heatwave,” Patel added.

There was speculation that the pre-match press conference before the Eliminator was canned due to the terror threat, but a BCCI source rubbished it. “There was never a presser scheduled before this match, as there was already the first qualifier (between KKR and SRG) being played yesterday at the Narendra Modi Stadium here.

In any case, it’s not unusual for teams to not have practice session at this late stage of the tournament, as they try and remain fresh for the match after a long campaign,” he said.

Scripting a comeback for the ages, RCB have won 6 matches on the bounce to storm into the playoffs, They beat CSK in their last match to knock the five-time champions out of the tournament.