Royal Challengers Bangalore’s (RCB) home fixture against Delhi Daredevils (DD), originally scheduled to take be played on May 12, has been interchanged with their reverse fixture on April 21 on account of state elections. Karnataka will go into voting on May 12 across as its 224 constituencies while counting of votes will take place three days later. The swap in dates of the Indian Premier League (IPL) fixture has been made to ensure the game is conducted smoothly.
The change in scheduling means that the M Chinnaswamy Stadium. RCB’s home ground, will not host any games during the election period. The Virat Kohli-led outfit will resume action in Bengaluru on May 17 for their final home game against Sunrisers Hyderabad. Royal Challengers Bangalore will take on Kolkata Knight Riders in Kolkata in their opening game on April 8.
For Delhi Daredevils, the shuffle will mean that they will now play their first game at home against Kings XI Punjab on April 23. DD open their IPL 2018 campaign on April 8 against Kings XI Punjab in Mohali. The reschedule means Delhi Daredevils' first home game gets pushed by a further two days. They were initially slated to take on Kings XI Punjab early in the tournament, but with the Chandigarh Airport scheduled to be closed during mini-May, Kings XI Punjab's venues were swapped, with Mohali getting the first three games and Indore hosting the last four. It also meant that Delhi Daredevils' home game against KXIP was moved to April 23rd.
