IPL 2024: Threat to Virat Kohli’s security amid match against Rajasthan Royals

The Rajasthan Royals and Royal Challengers Bengaluru will be clashing tonight for the eliminator match at the Narendra Modi Stadium. Amidst all these RCB cancelled their practice session match after a probable threat to star batter Virat Kohli.

RCB team was supposed to practice for the knockout game at the Gujarat College field in Ahmedabad on Tuesday. However, the team chose to call off the practice without providing an official reason. While, the Rajasthan Royals used the same location for their routine nets practice. It is unusual for there to be no press conference on the eve of a crucial IPL knockout match.

 Due to the IPL Qualifier 1 between Kolkata Knight Riders and Sunrisers Hyderabad on Tuesday, RR and RCB were unable to use the Narendra Modi Stadium, provided by the Gujarat Cricket Association. The Gujarat College field was offered as an alternative to RR and RCB.

According to sources, the Gujarat Cricket Association and Gujarat Police, four suspected IS (Islamic State) operatives were arrested at the Ahmedabad airport on Monday. After the arrest of four Sri Lankan nationals who were thought to be IS operatives, on Tuesday police had been put on high alert and nearly 5,000 security personnel were on duty at the Narendra Modi Stadium at Motera for the first IPL qualifier.

Virat Kohli was informed about this incident by one of the police officers as he is a national treasure and his security is a top priority. RCB management didn’t want to take any risk, and because of that, they canceled the practice session. The information about this incident was shared with both the teams. In action to that RCB cancelled their practice session while RR didn’t take any action and continued with their practice session.

Vijay Singh Jwala, a police officer said, “Virat Kohli learned about the arrests after arriving in Ahmedabad. He is a national treasure, and his security is our utmost priority. RCB did not want to take a risk. They informed us that there would be no practice session. Rajasthan Royals were also informed about the development, but they had no problems going ahead with their practice.”

After losing their last four games, RR was unable to finish in the top two. Due to failure in their most recent game against KKR, SRH surpassed them for the second position. 

At that time, RCB planned a historic return. They managed to get into the playoffs by winning six straight games by huge margins. In their final game, they defeated Chennai Super Kings, eliminating the five-time winners from the competition.