IPL 2025: Ground staff covers Eden Gardens completely as rain fear looms ahead of KKR vs RCB season opener

The IPL 2025 season-opening clash between Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) and Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) is just hours away from its inception. However, the clouds of uncertainty about whether the game would start or not have started to haunt the cricket fans. The ground staff at the Eden Gardens have completely covered the stadium to save it from getting wet, as there are high chances of rain in the city of Kolkata on March 22.

The Star Sports channel has released the recent images of the ground that has been thoroughly covered amid heavy rain alerts. Watch the visuals here:

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) had already warned about thunderstorms and lightning during this weekend. The department had stated, "“A trough runs from central Odisha to Vidarbha, and there is wind confluence over east and adjoining central India. Due to this and an anticyclonic circulation over the Bay of Bengal at lower tropospheric levels, isolated to scattered light or moderate rainfall with thunderstorms and gusty winds are likely over sub-Himalayan West Bengal and Sikkim on March 20 and 21."

The Regional Meteorological Centre in Kolkata too had previously predicted the same and released a statement that said, "Due to the presence of favourable wind patterns and strong moisture incursion from the Bay of Bengal, thunderstorms with lightning and strong gusty surface winds are very likely to occur in some districts of West Bengal during March 20-22."

The IPL season opener with a KKR vs RCB clash is happening after 2008, which makes it even more exciting for the fans as they hope for positive news surrounding the match. Both teams would be led by their newly appointed skippers, Anjikya Rahane for KKR and Rajat Patidar for RCB. Rahane, being the experienced campaigner, would like to start off the IPL 2025 with a win.

Rajat Patidar, on the other hand, also has significant experience leading the Madhya Pradesh team in the domestic circuit. The player too would like to kickstart with a debut win as an RCB skipper.