The Indian Premier League game between Kolkata Knight Riders and Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata has been halted because of heavy rain and strong gusts of wind at Kolkata that former cricketer Matthew Hayden termed as ‘absolute chaos’. Hosts Kolkata were set a target of 202 runs in the game and were 7/0 after one over when the game was halted.
Former Australia cricketer Matthew Hayden, who is in Kolkata for the host broadcaster JioHotstar, pointed behind him on the live broadcast and called the situation, “absolute chaos”. The Eden Gardens ground has been completely covered with white covers, but some covers were blown off due to excessive winds.
Story continues below this ad
The ground staff at the Eden Gardens in Kolkata try to prevent the covers from blowing off in the face of strong gusts of wind. (Express Photo by Partha Paul)Hayden said that the ground staff were actually sitting on the covers in Kolkata to prevent them from blowing off since there seemed to be no weights to keep them fixed on the ground. He summed the situation as watching “featherweights in a heavyweight contest”.
IPL 2025, KKR vs PBKS LIVE Cricket Score, Full Scorecard: Watch Here
“There was one portion of the covers, which had about six people standing on it, it got blown off and all those guys were launched up into the air. And then the cover disappeared into the crowd. It’s been carnage here,” Hayden said on JioHotstar. “It started with a dust storm, which was exciting enough as it was and then we had sideways rain that completely caught the ground staff unawares. Currently you can see behind me, they’re all sitting on the covers because they don’t have the weights that actually weigh down the covers. There’s a win that’s whistling about at 60-70 kilometres an hour and it been a real spectacle besides the batting we have seen from the Punjab Kings batting.”
Asked what he was hearing from the locals about the weather conditions and whether there would be a game possible, Hayden said: “I don’t know about the locals but my eyes are telling me it’s raining. And quite hard! It’s been extremely humid.”
