The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) thanked the fans present at the Narendra Modi Stadium on Sunday for their patience and support after the IPL 2023 final was moved to Reserve Day, i.e May 29 due to relentless rain on May 28. The board also requested the fans to come in big numbers to support their favourite IPL teams at the grand finale of the IPL 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad on Monday.
Australia great Matthew Hayden, who is part of the IPL broadcasting team, shared a video of fans braving the rain to watch the IPL final in Narendra Modi Stadium and captioned his Instagram story, “Love you guys #bestfans. See you tomorrow GT vs CSK IPL2023 Finals.”
IPL 2023 final moved to the reserved day after relentless rains delayed the toss and subsequently the start of the summit showdown between CSK and GT on Sunday in Ahmedabad. The title match between Gujarat Titans and Chennai Super Kings will thus take place on Monday at the Narendra Modi Stadium. With the weather prediction not looking positive for the final on Sunday, things only got worse for the fans who had come out in force.
“The IPL Final of the 2023 edition involving Chennai Super Kings and the Gujarat Titans has been rescheduled to the reserved day, Monday, May 29th due to incessant rain in Ahmedabad. Fans who had their tickets for the IPL Final on May 28th will now be able to enter the stadium with their existing physical tickets on May 29th. The BCCI would like to thank the fans present tonight for their patience and support. We request them to come in big numbers to support their favourite IPL teams at the grand finale of the IPL 2023 at the Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad,” BCCI’s statement read.
It started raining in the evening half an hour before the toss – around 6:30 p.m. local time – and didn’t stop for longer than two and a half hours. The rain did, however, stop after 9:00 p.m local time, and the covers were removed, with two super soppers already in service as of 8:30 p.m. IST.
However, a strong rainstorm returned, forcing ground personnel to re-cover the surface and players off the pitch who had begun warming up. There were some significant puddles on the covers and exposed areas of the outfield that would have taken the groundstaff more than an hour to remove if the rain had ceased.
The IPL final will have a reserve day — Monday, May 29 in this year’s scenario — if the match cannot begin by the 12:06 am cut-off time, in which case it will be a five-overs per side contest. There are no rain forecasts for Monday, which means that a 20-20 over match is entirely possible.
