Picture Credit: X/IPL
The table-toppers, Shreyas Iyer-led Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) will next take on five-time champions Mumbai Indians (MI) in IPL 2024 at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata on Saturday, May 11. But ahead of this match, the two-time champions were seen struggling with a lot of things.
During their flight from Lucknow to Kolkata, which was eventually delayed and redirected, pacer Harshit Rana was seen moving away from talks with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). The right-arm pacer, who was victim of the one-match suspension and fine of 100 per cent of match fee after his furious send-off celebration, was seen having a light-hearted conversation with the KKR Head Coach Chandrakant Pandit.
During the conversation when Chandrakant Pandit spoke of speaking to the BCCI to reschedule their last match and do a practice session due to the flight diversion to Guwahati, Rana was seen requesting his coach to not talk to BCCI in regard to the rescheduling.
Here is how the conversation went:
Harshit Rana: Ek kaam karte hai, practice kar lete hai, ek session yaha kar lete hai (Let’s do one thing, let’s keep one practice session here).
Chandrakant Pandit: Ek session yaha kar lete hai. Phir match bhi yahi khel lete hai. Ek last mein jo match hai humare (Yes, one session here and then we can also play our last league match here).
Harshit Rana: 19 ko match hai. Kal parso mein hi khelke khatam kar lete hai. Toh 19 ko nahi ana padega (We have a match on 19th. Let’s get it done with it by tomorrow or day after so that we don’t have to come here again).
Chandrakant Pandit: Main dekhta hu. Baat karni padegi BCCI ke saath (Let me see, what I can do. Will have to talk to BCCI).
Harshit Rana: BCCI se toh baat karo hi mat (Don’t talk to BCCI).
Watch Harshit Rana and Chandrakant Pandit’s hilarious conversation here:
The KKR pacer Harshit Rana is likely to stay away from BCCI when it comes to bans and warnings seeing that he has been penalised twice in the ongoing edition of the tournament. The 22-year-old was first fined by BCCI after giving a flying-kiss send-off to Mayank Agarwal during a match against SRH and his offence was doubled, handing him a one-match ban after giving a send-off to Abishek Porel in match against DC.
KKR team lands safely in Kolkata after overnight delay
The KKR team was forced to take an unexpected detour on their way back to Kolkata after their dominant 98-run win against the Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday, May 5. The table-toppers were redirected to Varanasi following their overnight stay. “Update at 1:20 AM: Flight diverted to Varanasi after another failed attempt at landing in Kolkata due to bad weather. Current status: At the Lal Bahadur Shastri International airport tarmac” the KKR posted on X.
However, two hours later, the franchise informed that the team will be checking into Varanasi hotel for overnight stay. “Update at 3:00 AM: KKR team would be checking into Varanasi hotel for overnight stay. Return flight to Kolkata TBD on Tuesday (7 may) afternoon. Stay safe, Kolkata” they wrote.
But hours later, on Tuesday, May 7, the KKR team finally checked in their team hotel at 3:15 PM.
