Rain chose the most inopportune moment to make its presence felt, leading to the postponement of the IPL-7 Qualifier match between Kolkata Knight Riders and Kings XI Punjab here at the Eden Gardens on Tuesday.

The conduct of the heavyweight clash where the winner advances to the final in Bangalore on Sunday always appeared in doubt following heavy rain that has been lashing the City of Joy for the last couple of days.

Match commissioner Roshan Mahanama and on-field umpires – Nigel Long and S Ravi – after the seeing the covers draped over the entire playing area at 5.15 pm, decided to postpone the match to Wednesday. The match will begin at 4.00 pm and incase a result is not a possibility then Punjab will advance to the final having finished on top of the league phase.

“KKR CEO Venky Mysore called me around 4 pm and felt it was better to call off the game and have it played on Wednesday due to the damp conditions,” Cricket Association of Bengal joint-secretary Subir Ganguly told the media. “We immediately informed IPL CEO Sundar Raman. Match commissioner Roshan Mahanama then conducted an inspection at 5.15 pm and chose to postpone the match.”

Ganguly, who is also an IPL governing council member, said he suggested calling off the match nearly three hours before the scheduled start to avoid the spectators from going through the ordeal. “We did not want a situation where spectators get in and face unnecessary harassment.

We could have pressed for five overs a side match but since we had a reserve day, why take chances?

“We wanted to make an announcement long before people start queuing up as they come from all over the city. Besides, it would have been double duty for the Kolkata police to work till 11 pm today (Tuesday) and come tomorrow (Wednesday) by 11am,” the CAB official noted.

Although the rain stayed away in the evening with just a few short spells, the overcast conditions were making things difficult for the ground staff to get the ground ready for the match.

“See, the entire playing area has been under wraps for the last two days. Even if we don’t get a sunny day, a dry spell of 5-6 hours in the morning would be enough to make the ground ready for the start.”