Kolkata Knight Riders players Manish Pandey, KS Bharat and Sherfane Rutherford take a boat tour, in Varanasi, on May 7, 2024.
| Photo Credit: PTI
Kolkata Knight Riders players returned home on May 7, ending a harrowing experience as they were forced to spend a night at Varanasi after their flight from Lucknow to Kolkata was diverted multiple times due to bad weather.
Following their massive 98-run win over Lucknow Super Giants on Sunday, the Shreyas Iyer-led side left on Monday evening for Kolkata at 5:45 pm. The team was scheduled to arrive at 7.25 pm.
But the charter flight had to be diverted to Guwahati first and then to Varanasi after adverse weather conditions made it impossible to land the plane in Kolkata.
“Team has landed back in Kolkata, and checked into Team Hotel,” said an update from KKR media team at 5.18pm on May 7.
At Varanasi, some of the players, including Manish Pandey and Sherfane Rutherford, and assistant coach Ryan Ten Doeschate paid a visit to Shri Kashi Vishwanath temple and the holy Ganges ghat during sunrise.
“On our adventitious trip to Varanasi, some of our cricketers and support staff took the opportunity to pay a visit to Shri Kashi Vishwanath temple and holy Ganga ghat during sunrise,” it added.
Earlier, the KKR media team provided an update at 8.46 pm on Monday, saying, “Due to inclement weather over Kolkata, the KKR charter flight has been diverted to Guwahati. We’ve just landed here.” Then another update at 9.53 pm said, “We’ve got clearance to fly back to Kolkata now, from Guwahati. Estimated arrival: 11 pm.” However, the ordeal was not over for the players and support staff as multiple attempts to land the flight failed, forcing the officials to divert the flight mid-air to Varanasi.
“Flight took off from Guwahati to Kolkata, was scheduled to land at 11 PM. Couldn’t land once again due to bad weather, despite several attempts. Diverted mid-air to Varanasi now. Just landed here,” said an update at 1:15 am.
The KKR team then spent the night at Varanasi and was to travel to Kolkata this afternoon.
“The team would be checking into Varanasi hotel for overnight stay. Return flight to Kolkata TBD on Tuesday (7 May) afternoon,” the KKR media team said in the final update at 3:00 am.
KKR’s next game is against Mumbai Indians at Edens Garden on Saturday.
The two-time former champions will play Gujarat Titans in Ahmedabad on May 13 and Rajasthan Royals in Guwahati on May 19 for their final two league matches.
